|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | GDP figures are expected to show the end of the longest double dip recession since the second world war
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  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tourists evacuated from beach resorts near Santiago before arrival of storm that has killed two in Caribbean Hurricane Sandy has made landfall west of Santiago de Cuba in southern Cuba, where residents boarded over windows and cleared drainage gutters in preparation for the strengthening storm that has killed two people in the Caribbean. The US national hurricane centre said the storm hit Cuba with maximum sustained winds of 114mph and was moving north. Sandy is expected to remain a hurricane as it moves over Cuba and the Bahamas. The 18th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season is expected to pass to the west of the US naval base at Cuba's Guantánamo Bay. Officials said there was no threat to the 166 prisoners. Sandy might bring tropical storm conditions along the south-east Florida coast by Friday morning. Cuba's communist government, known for its quick response to natural disasters, announced the evacuation of about 450 tourists from beach resorts near Santiago, according to Cuban state media, though hotel workers said they were not expecting major problems. The US hurricane centre said Sandy was expected to produce total rainfall of six to 12 inches across Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and eastern Cuba. "These rains may produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, especially in areas of mountainous terrain," the centre said. In Manzanillo, a city of 132,000, people said they were worried about the impact, particularly after a wet summer that left sub-soils saturated. "Given the condition of my house, I don't know if it will withstand the force of a hurricane, but we are prepared," said Emiliano Lopez, 62, who lives near Manzanillo's seaside boulevard. In Santiago, Cuba's second largest city, tourist hotels prepared by getting generators ready and closing off some outdoor spaces and pools. "We're well prepared for the storm," said Mayte Cuesta, an employee of the Hotel Melia Santiago. "It will affect us, but we don't think there is any danger." As Sandy crossed over Jamaica on Wednesday an elderly man was killed by a boulder that crashed into his house, police said. In south-west Haiti, a woman died in the town of Camp Perrin after she was swept away by a river she was trying to cross, said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, head of the country's civil protection office. Jamaican authorities closed the island's international airports and police ordered 48-hour curfews in large towns to keep people off the streets and deter looting. Cruise ships changed their itineraries to avoid the storm, which made landfall on Wednesday afternoon near the capital, Kingston. In some southern towns in Jamaica, several crocodiles were caught in rushing floodwaters that carried them out of their homes in mangrove thickets. One big crocodile took up temporary residence in a family's front yard in the city of Portmore.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Chinese government says it hopes to generate 30% of energy from renewable sources and nuclear by 2015 China is ready to approve new nuclear power plants as part of ambitious plans to reduce reliance on oil and coal, ending a moratorium it imposed because of Japan's Fukushima disaster last year. The government said it hoped to generate 30% of China's power from solar, wind and other renewable sources as well as from nuclear energy by the end of 2015, up from an earlier target of 15% from renewables plus 5% from nuclear by 2020. The communist government is aggressively promoting wind, solar, hydro and other alternative energy sources to reduce pollution from coal plants and curb surging reliance on imported oil, which it sees as a national security risk. The cabinet on Wednesday passed plans on nuclear power safety and development that said construction of nuclear power plants would resume "steadily". Only a small number of plants will be built, and only in coastal areas, according to a cabinet announcement. The plants will meet the most stringent safety standards, it said. No date was given for resuming construction of nuclear plants. Despite widespread public concern over possible radiation contamination from the Fukushima disaster and calls for improved safety precautions and emergency preparedness, China remains committed to building up nuclear power to help reduce emissions from coal-fired plants and curb its reliance on costly oil imports. China suspended approvals of new nuclear plants after a tsunami triggered by the massive earthquake on 11 March 2011 crippled the Fukushima plant's cooling and backup power systems, causing partial meltdowns in the worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe. China's leaders ordered safety checks for existing nuclear facilities, a review of projects under construction and improved safety standards. "The inspection results show that nuclear security is guaranteed in China," according to a government report on its energy policy also released Wednesday. "China implements the principle of 'safety first' in the whole process of nuclear power station planning." China currently has 15 nuclear reactors that provide about 12.5 gigawatts of generating capacity, and another 26 reactors are under construction that will add 30 gigawatts, the report said. Nuclear power accounts for only 1.8% of power in China, it said. The government report also said that China was now 90% energy self-sufficient, but acknowledged high demand would continue to put a strain on resources. It also warned of "grave challenges" to its energy security in its growing dependence on imported petroleum. Imports accounted for a third of total petroleum consumption in the early 2000s and have jumped to nearly 60% now, the report said. China will also encourage private companies to participate in exploration and development of energy resources, it said.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Adviser deems Guardian request 'stupid' after tycoon's 'October surprise' proves to be call for information on president While Donald Trump had no problem demanding that Barack Obama reveal details about his passport and time at college on Wednesday, the billionaire business mogul proved rather less forthcoming when it came to a request for information about himself. Trump announced on Wednesday that he would donate $5m to a charity of Obama's choosing, if the president handed over his "college records and applications, and passport application and records". But when the Guardian contacted Trump's office to ask for Trump's college and passport records, it was accused of "trying to be funny" and the request was deemed to be "stupid". "I tell you what, he'll provide them to you when you provide yours to him," said Michael Cohen, executive vice president at the Trump Organization and special counsel to Trump, in what began as a friendly encounter. I readily agreed to the deal, and offered to provide my college records and passport-application records to the Trump office for inspection. That seemed to prompt a change of heart. "But what's your point? Mr Trump's not the president of the United States and he's not running for the presidency," Cohen said. "And pretty much all you need to do is go to one of the thousand different books that Mr Trump has been featured in or has written and so on, and you could learn more about him than you know about pretty much anybody on the planet." Trump has authored and co-authored at least 18 books, including: Trump: The Art of the Deal; Trump: How to Get Rich; and Trump: Surviving at the Top. Unfortunately, none of Trump's oeuvre graces the bookshelves at the Guardian's New York office – an oversight which is in the process of being rectified. Cohen went on to accuse the Guardian of not taking the story seriously. (Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth.) "I think what you're doing is you're, whether you're trying to be funny, intentionally or not, actually it's a stupid request on your behalf," he said. "It's trying to poke fun at the fact that the president of the United States is the least transparent president that we've ever had. He may be the least transparent politician we've ever come across. "And I tell you what, why don't you do this, since you want to be so clever. Why don't you turn around and say if Mr Trump releases all of his records to you, you will donate $5m to the charity of his choice?" I pointed out that I did not have $5m to hand. "I'm afraid that you shouldn't be asking the same request then," Cohen said. Your reporter protested that if Trump was demanding that others producer their records, it was only fair that he produced his own. Cohen said: "Do you not think Mr Trump has been scrutinised his entire life?" Surely, I countered, Obama, as president of the United States, had also been subject to considerable scrutiny? "No, actually Mr Trump does not [think that]," Cohen said. "I tell you what, since you want our records, do it under the terms Mr Trump has. Make a donation to Mr Trump's favourite charity." I agreed to a donation, but said that it would probably not amount to $5m. "OK then, $500,000," Cohen said. Not being able to put my hands on even so modest a sum as this, I attempted to steer the conversation back to the original suggestion – that Trump would turn over his records in exchange for mine, for free. Cohen promised that he would "take it up with Mr Trump". "And by the way, while we're at it, I'd like to have all your authorisations under HIPAA, for all your medical records as well," Cohen said. Happy to oblige, I asked for an address. But Cohen hung up. So, sadly, we are probably not going to get Donald Trump's college records and passport-application details. Unless someone has a spare $5m lying around...
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tens of thousands evacuated as Hurricane Sandy hits the east coast of Cuba growing stronger after pounding Jamaica Hurricane Sandy lashed eastern Cuba with heavy rains and rising winds as it grew stronger over warm Caribbean waters on Thursday after ripping across Jamaica. At least 55,000 people were evacuated after the Cuban weather service predicted the storm surge could reach 6 feet (2 metres), with waves up to 26 feet (8 metres) expected to pound the coast. The eye of the storm was expected to make landfall near Santiago de Cuba, the country's second-largest city, 470 miles (756 km) southeast of Havana, Cuban forecasters said. Forecaster said it would cross the island within a few hours, heading north toward the Bahamas, where hurricane warnings have been posted for the southeastern Ragged Islands. A tropical storm watch was in place for south Florida. The storm, with sustained winds of 90 miles per hour (145 kph) could climb from a Category 1 storm to Category 2, the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said. Sandy was not expected to enter the Gulf of Mexico, where the United States has extensive oil and gas production. The Cuban government suspended flights to and from eastern Cuba, along with bus and train service in the area. Officials put agricultural products including sugar and coffee into warehouses out of harm's way. Almost 3,000 Cubans working on the coffee harvest in Santiago de Cuba were sent home. In Holguin province, processing plants for nickel, Cuba's main export, continued operations, Cuban television said. Cubans said they were battening down the hatches as the storm approached.
"The weather is getting very ugly," said self-employed worker Esteban O'Reilly in Santiago de Cuba. "I've lit a candle to the Virgin of Charity, the patron saint of Cuba, to ask that Sandy not do much damage," said O'Reilly, 45. Retiree Yolanda Perez, also in Santiago de Cuba, said she hoped Cuba's coastal Sierra Maestra mountains, from which Fidel Castro fought Cuba's 1959 revolution, would take some of the steam out of Sandy as it moved inland. "I am hoping the mountains of eastern Cuba will slow the winds and rains of Sandy so it won't do much damage here," she said. At the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base, winds near 50 mph (80 kph) were blowing heavy rains sideways and rattling doors at a base hotel. Electricity was out and all but emergency workers were confined to quarters. Military officials said most of the 166 prisoners at Guantanamo were already housed in buildings capable of withstanding a hurricane, and the few who were not had been moved to safe quarters. In Jamaica, Sandy caused widespread power outages, flooded streets, damaged homes and caused at least one death. "A part of the roof of my veranda just went like that," said Walford Freak, 55, who lives in the coastal city of Iter Boreale. "At least five of my neighbours have lost their entire roofs." A police official said a man died under a crush of stones that fell from a hillside as he tried to get into his house in a rural village near Kingston, Jamaica's capital. Computer models generally forecast that Sandy would steer clear of the US East Coast, but some showed it could pose a risk to the US Northeast early next week.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tens of thousands evacuated as Hurricane Sandy hits the east coast of Cuba growing stronger after pounding Jamaica Hurricane Sandy lashed eastern Cuba with heavy rains and rising winds as it grew stronger over warm Caribbean waters on Thursday after ripping across Jamaica. At least 55,000 people were evacuated after the Cuban weather service predicted the storm surge could reach 6 feet (2 metres), with waves up to 26 feet (8 metres) expected to pound the coast. The eye of the storm was expected to make landfall near Santiago de Cuba, the country's second-largest city, 470 miles (756 km) southeast of Havana, Cuban forecasters said. Forecaster said it would cross the island within a few hours, heading north toward the Bahamas, where hurricane warnings have been posted for the southeastern Ragged Islands. A tropical storm watch was in place for south Florida. The storm, with sustained winds of 90 miles per hour (145 kph) could climb from a Category 1 storm to Category 2, the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said. Sandy was not expected to enter the Gulf of Mexico, where the United States has extensive oil and gas production. The Cuban government suspended flights to and from eastern Cuba, along with bus and train service in the area. Officials put agricultural products including sugar and coffee into warehouses out of harm's way. Almost 3,000 Cubans working on the coffee harvest in Santiago de Cuba were sent home. In Holguin province, processing plants for nickel, Cuba's main export, continued operations, Cuban television said. Cubans said they were battening down the hatches as the storm approached.
"The weather is getting very ugly," said self-employed worker Esteban O'Reilly in Santiago de Cuba. "I've lit a candle to the Virgin of Charity, the patron saint of Cuba, to ask that Sandy not do much damage," said O'Reilly, 45. Retiree Yolanda Perez, also in Santiago de Cuba, said she hoped Cuba's coastal Sierra Maestra mountains, from which Fidel Castro fought Cuba's 1959 revolution, would take some of the steam out of Sandy as it moved inland. "I am hoping the mountains of eastern Cuba will slow the winds and rains of Sandy so it won't do much damage here," she said. At the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base, winds near 50 mph (80 kph) were blowing heavy rains sideways and rattling doors at a base hotel. Electricity was out and all but emergency workers were confined to quarters. Military officials said most of the 166 prisoners at Guantanamo were already housed in buildings capable of withstanding a hurricane, and the few who were not had been moved to safe quarters. In Jamaica, Sandy caused widespread power outages, flooded streets, damaged homes and caused at least one death. "A part of the roof of my veranda just went like that," said Walford Freak, 55, who lives in the coastal city of Iter Boreale. "At least five of my neighbours have lost their entire roofs." A police official said a man died under a crush of stones that fell from a hillside as he tried to get into his house in a rural village near Kingston, Jamaica's capital. Computer models generally forecast that Sandy would steer clear of the US East Coast, but some showed it could pose a risk to the US Northeast early next week.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Firm also finds ads are being shown in smaller area, meaning some Americans are being inundated at unprecedented levels More than 915,000 campaign ads have been aired on television in the election so far, almost twice as many as in 2008, according to a detailed survey conducted by the Wesleyan Media Project. The research also found that the record number of ads is concentrated on fewer states than in 2008 – meaning a small number of Americans in the swing states are being bombarded with campaign messages on a scale never seen before. Anecdotal evidence, not in the survey, suggests that some viewers now mentally switch off when political ads appear. But the same anecdotal evidence also suggests that many voters, when asked for their views, tend to reiterate ad messages. The survey shows that both sides are spending more than in 2008. It confirms that it is an extremely negative campaign, with Barack Obama's team and its supporters even more negative than Mitt Romney's. Erika Franklin Fowler, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, said: "When all is said and done, 2012 will go down as a record-pulverising year for political advertising. We've already surpassed the total number of presidential ads aired during the entire 2008 campaign and we still have two weeks to go before election day. "What is striking is that the ads are concentrated on fewer markets than 2008, meaning that a smaller number of Americans have witnessed the onslaught of messages in the race for the White House." The survey found that Las Vegas, Denver and Cleveland have been the epicentres of ad campaigns. Ad volume is also up in Virginia. Looking at just the first three weeks of this month, spending by Democratic-leaning groups are up 438% on 2008 and Republican-leaning ones 954%. Over those three weeks, pro-Romney groups have spent more than $47m on television advertising, $10m more than their Democratic counterparts. In 2008, the Republican national committee was responsible for about 85% of presidential candidate John McCain's ads. This time round, the RNC is responsible for only 12% and outside groups 44%, reflecting the change in politics brought about by the supreme court ruling that lifted many restrictions on political spending. Although the Republicans are outspending the Democrats, the Obama campaign is in fact airing more ads. This is partly because the Obama campaign (as does the Romney campaign) benefits from cheaper ad rates than those bought by outside groups, allowing it to air more. Michael Franz, co-director of Wesleyan Media Project, said: "There was a lot of talk that Romney and his allies were hoarding resources for a major ad push in the closing moments of the campaign. This was supposed to counteract the Obama advantage is ads aired throughout the earlier part of the general election campaign. We just have not seen that to date on local broadcast. And time is running out." The survey reveals that after the Obama and Romney campaigns, the biggest spender is American Crossroads, the group that includes former George W Bush strategist Karl Rove. Since 1 October, it has spent $28m on more than 26,000 ads. The pro-Obama group, Priorities USA, was the fourth biggest spender, with $9.5m on more than 13,000 ads. On negativity, only 11% of ads by the Romney campaign have been positive and only 6.3% of Obama's. In Senate races, Virginia's has been the most expensive, with $14m spent over the last three weeks.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Arsenal have relished the Champions League but their formidable record at home has now been marred by this merited victory for a Schalke side full of intent and confidence. They came up with two goals in the closing stages that felt belated. A header from Ibrahim Afellay set up Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to shoot home in the 76th minute. Jefferson Farfán then exploited Arsenal's weakness at left-back, eluding André Santos to set up Afellay's goal with a low cross. Arsenal have made several changes at the club. The alterations might almost have distracted supporters from dwelling on the fact that Robin van Persie is now on the Manchester United payroll. The real break with the past cannot come, however, with just some new faces in the squad photograph. Prior to the interval, Arsenal dominated yet found it hard to make a clear opening or deliver a ruthless finish. The Champions League, admittedly, is not supposed to put anyone at ease, especially when clubs from two historic, football nations confront one another. There were opportunities from an early stage but composure was scarce then. When Arsenal's Lukas Podolski picked out Gervinho with a low ball from the left in the 10th minute, the centre-forward fired off target. It was not a particularly eventful game at that point. On such occasions, the decisions of the referee can have even more significance. Jonas Eriksson opted for a yellow card rather than a penalty when Afellay was put clear by Farfán and went down as the Arsenal goalkeeper, Vito Mannone, closed in on him. There was an air of underachievement at that stage. Even a marksman of Huntelaar's class was unable to rise above it when he missed the target after Atsuto Uchida picked him out in the 43rd minute. The hosts had been rather subdued. Arsène Wenger's side will have to develop an identity before they can make an impact. Despite nearly eight years without a trophy, curiosity, if not anticipation, still ensures that large numbers go through the Arsenal turnstiles. Followers of the club would be delighted if a bolstering of the squad in defence, midfield and attack led at last to a more capable line-up. That does not look imminent while the team is to be found in the middle of the Premier League table. In the trophyless years since the FA Cup was won in 2005, Arsenal have intermittently suggested that they were close to real achievement. With 10 men, following the red card for Jens Lehmann, they still led until Barcelona overtook them in the last quarter-hour of the 2006 Champions League final. The lasting poignancy of that occasion does not necessarily rest with the outcome. A fan could focus instead on the fact that the present line-up is far from the standard of the team six years ago. Encouragement can only come if the new batch is added to in January or next summer. At least Wenger has not been fixated with the nurturing of fresh but callow talent. There has instead been a quiet search for seasoned professionals, with the midfielder Santi Cazorla an obvious example given his years in La Liga. Knowhow was not brought to bear readily against a competitive Bundesliga side which included Lewis Holtby, the son of an Everton supporting Liverpudlian who was born in the Mönchengladbach area and has been capped for Germany. All in all, Arsenal had allowed Schalke to be the main source of interest before the interval. The tempo set by the hosts was much higher at the beginning of the second-half but hardly sufficed to nullify opponents who had an appetite for the battle. Schalke had an outstanding opportunity to score after Farfán got free of André Santos but saw his cut-back fired high by Benedikt Höwedes, the captain and centre-back. Considering that Schalke were the visitors, the boldness they displayed seemed to disconcert their opponents. The goalless condition of the fixture remained a puzzle. Arsenal had three attackers when in possession, but invention was too often lacking in the service they received. There was a glimpse of danger for Schalke, when Gervinho's low delivery from the left went slightly too far in front of Podolski. Any encouragement lay in the thought that Arsenal were a little more imposing then, but there was nothing at all bashful about the opposition. That frame of mind might come naturally too them, but the manager must have been alert, as well, to the vulnerability seen lately. Wenger's side sought a penalty after 71 minutes, but the referee did not deem that the substitute Jermaine Jones had made significant contact on Gervinho. Impact proved elusive in this match until Schalke struck.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Adviser deems Guardian request 'stupid' after tycoon's 'October surprise' proves to be call for information on president While Donald Trump had no problem demanding that Barack Obama reveal details about his passport and time at college on Wednesday, the billionaire business mogul proved rather less forthcoming when it came to a request for information about himself. Trump announced on Wednesday that he would donate $5m to a charity of Obama's choosing, if the president handed over his "college records and applications, and passport application and records". But when the Guardian contacted Trump's office to ask for Trump's college and passport records, it was accused of "trying to be funny" and the request was deemed to be "stupid". "I tell you what, he'll provide them to you when you provide yours to him," said Michael Cohen, executive vice president at the Trump Organization and special counsel to Trump, in what began as a friendly encounter. I readily agreed to the deal, and offered to provide my college records and passport-application records to the Trump office for inspection. That seemed to prompt a change of heart. "But what's your point? Mr Trump's not the president of the United States and he's not running for the presidency," Cohen said. "And pretty much all you need to do is go to one of the thousand different books that Mr Trump has been featured in or has written and so on, and you could learn more about him than you know about pretty much anybody on the planet." Trump has authored and co-authored at least 18 books, including: Trump: The Art of the Deal; Trump: How to Get Rich; and Trump: Surviving at the Top. Unfortunately, none of Trump's oeuvre graces the bookshelves at the Guardian's New York office – an oversight which is in the process of being rectified. Cohen went on to accuse the Guardian of not taking the story seriously. (Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth.) "I think what you're doing is you're, whether you're trying to be funny, intentionally or not, actually it's a stupid request on your behalf," he said. "It's trying to poke fun at the fact that the president of the United States is the least transparent president that we've ever had. He may be the least transparent politician we've ever come across. "And I tell you what, why don't you do this, since you want to be so clever. Why don't you turn around and say if Mr Trump releases all of his records to you, you will donate $5m to the charity of his choice?" I pointed out that I did not have $5m to hand. "I'm afraid that you shouldn't be asking the same request then," Cohen said. Your reporter protested that if Trump was demanding that others producer their records, it was only fair that he produced his own. Cohen said: "Do you not think Mr Trump has been scrutinised his entire life?" Surely, I countered, Obama, as president of the United States, had also been subject to considerable scrutiny? "No, actually Mr Trump does not [think that]," Cohen said. "I tell you what, since you want our records, do it under the terms Mr Trump has. Make a donation to Mr Trump's favourite charity." I agreed to a donation, but said that it would probably not amount to $5m. "OK then, $500,000," Cohen said. Not being able to put my hands on even so modest a sum as this, I attempted to steer the conversation back to the original suggestion – that Trump would turn over his records in exchange for mine, for free. Cohen promised that he would "take it up with Mr Trump". "And by the way, while we're at it, I'd like to have all your authorisations under HIPAA, for all your medical records as well," Cohen said. Happy to oblige, I asked for an address. But Cohen hung up. So, sadly, we are probably not going to get Donald Trump's college records and passport-application details. Unless someone has a spare $5m lying around...
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Schalke comprehensively beat a dismal Arsenal as Jefferson Farfán enjoyed the freedom of the right flank Hello world! Historical statistics don't prove anything, of course, but Arsenal's record at home to German opposition: P11 W9 D1 L1, ending with six wins on the spin; Schalke's record away at English opposition: P5 W0 D1 L4, that draw coming in their first visit, to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1958, since when they've lost every game by an aggregate scoreline of 14-4. Inauspicious doesn't even begin to sum that up, from a Schalke perspective. Team news, then, and midfielder Francis Coquelin replaces Olivier Giroud in Arsenal's starting XI, while Schalke stick with the side that won at the German champions, Borussia Dortmund, at the weekend. So, those teams then:
Arsenal: Mannone; Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, André Santos; Ramsey, Coquelin, Arteta, Podolski; Cazorla; Gervinho. Subs: Shea, Koscielny, Giroud, Djourou, Arshavin, Chamakh, Gnabry.
Schalke: Unnerstall; Uchida, Höwedes, Matip, Fuchs; Höger, Neustäcker, Holtby, Afellay; Farfán, Huntelaar. Subs: Hildebrand, Marica, Jones, Barnetta, Moritz, Draxler, Kolasinac.
Referee: Jonas Eriksson (Sweden). Now, I'm off for some grub. Back at 19.25 BST. Bye! 7.36pm: Kick-off swiftly approaching. Apropos nothing very much, I took my children (five and three-and-a-half) to their first ever football match last weekend. Three and a half is too young to watch a full game of football, I think, let alone a boring goalless one. Anyway, we survived for 87 minutes, most of it spent shoving snacks down his yawning gob rather than actually following the action, before giving up. Cue an inevitably last-minute winner for the home team, inevitably. Bah! 7.40pm: The players are in the tunnel. Wenger is in the stands. He's still banned. 7.44pm: We watch, and hear, the referee, Jonas Eriksson, conduct the coin toss. There is no head, and no tail – the choice is between blue and yellow. That's not a coin – he's tossing with an unusually colourful Othello piece. 1 min: Peeeeeep! We're off! 3 min: Incredibly annoyingly, the screen I'm looking at isn't wide enough to see Sky's clock. I've now started my own stopwatch, but when I say three minutes, it could actually be four. Sorry. 4 mins: Anyway, Lewis Holtby just produced rather a nice turn to evade a couple of marauding Arsenalmen. Didn't lead to much, but thought it was worth a mention. 7 mins: Still sparring – neither side has bothered their opponent's penalty area yet. Schalke winning the fans' noise battle, though. 9 mins: Cazorla slides the ball to Podolski, skimming down the left flank. His low cross is a decent one, but Gervinho meets it before the near post, which means it would take a bit of skill and guile to guide the ball goalwards. So he pokes it wide. 11 mins: Arsenal have had 75% of the possession so far. Schalke went to Borussia Dortmund at the weekend, scored three and might have had twice that – surely they didn't use these tactics then? 13 mins: To be fair, Schalke are getting plenty of people forward when they get the ball. They're just not finding them. 14 mins: Farfan pokes the ball into the penalty area, but too far ahead of Afellay. Jenkinson, though, decides to stop running, Mannone sprints out to make good his mess, Afellay gets to the ball first and then falls over Mannone's arms. The referee books the forward, but it could very easily have been a penalty. 15 mins: Now Farfán comes inside from the right wing, and beats Vermaelen as the Belgian slides in with an attempted tackle. The forward falls over, but there was little or, more likely, no contact. This time Vermaelen is booked. 17 mins: Since Schalke stopped not attacking, they haven't stopped attacking. The latest push forward ended with Uchida being given offside. 18 mins: Another low cross from the left from Podolski, but this one runs behind Ramsey and away from danger. Watchable stuff, this. 23 mins: Cazorla picks a German pocket in midfield and pushes the ball to Gervinho to his right. The forward messes up the return ball, and the chance is lost. 24 mins: A lovely pass from Cazorla finds Gervinho running clear, this time to the left of the penalty area. He cuts inside, hurdles one challenge, and then runs straight into the next defender and falls over. 27 mins: Arteta finds Cazorla, who turns, runs 10 yards and then shoots, from 30 yards out. The ball deflects wide. 28 mins: Did you know that Lewis Holtby could have played for England – his father is called Christopher and comes from Liverpool? Of course you did: the commentators mention it every 8.3 seconds. 30 mins: A lovely interception from Vermaelen, timing his rush forwards perfectly. He then overhits his pass to Gervinho by about 50 yards – the striker was on the half-way line; the ball takes one bounce before landing in Unnerstall's hands. 32 mins: More eye-catching defending from Arsenal. This time the ball is pulled back to Farfán, who cleverly cuts inside the first defender to set himself up for a shot – which cannons into Mertesacker, who has fair flung himself at it, and away to safety. 35 mins: Arsenal's Cazorla/Coquelin/Arteta central midfielder trio is pretty strong. If only they had a half-decent attacker to aim at. 36 mins: Schalke attack again down the right – where they have concentrated the vast majority of their forward forays – but Huntelaar is offside by the time they get round to crossing the ball. 39 mins: André Santos, sick of chasing after Farfán, decides to do some attacking of his own. He gets into the penalty area and it all looks quite promising until he kicks Uchida's calf instead of the ball and it all ends with a free kick. 42 mins: Poor Carl Jenkinson sprints 60 yards to add another man to Arsenal's latest attack. It turns out this is quite fast. He streaks across the screen and is spotted by Gervinho, who pops the ball perfectly into his path, and then he curls his cross over the crossbar and out for a goal kick. All that effort! 43 mins: A lovely ball is played over the Arsenal defence to Uchida – who Santos has just left alone, inexplicably. He slides the ball across to Huntelaar, who slams it wide of the near post. Good chance. 45 mins: Peeeeeeep! Not a bad half, but it's been so fast-flowing that the referee has decided that not a single second of stoppage time is required. Half-time: After an exceedingly quiet first quarter-hour, Schalke have looked the most likely scorers. And they definitely should have had a penalty, Afellay's 14th-minute booking looking absurdly harsh upon further replay-viewage. The key issues are at left-back, where André Santos struggled with Farfán and ignored Uchida, and attack, where Gervinho struggled to look like an attacker. Steve Bould has some work to do at half-time, for sure. Statistical update: According to @1DavidWall, some chap who works for Opta, "66% of Schalke's play in the Arsenal half has been down the right flank, 20% down the middle and 14% down the left". 46 mins: Peeeeeeeep! They're off! And Schalke have replaced Marco Höger with Jermaine Jones. 48 mins: Chance for Arsenal! Santos's cross ends with Coquelin, who sends it low, back towards the six-yard box. Ramsey, on the near post, attempts a backheel flick which flies straight into a defender. Podolski, standing behind him, looks frustrated. Schalke hare down the other end, and Arteta collects a booking in return for stopping them, and more specifically Afellay. 50 mins: What a chance! Farfán takes the ball past Santos bizarrely easily, and slides a cut-back to Höwedes, three yards inside the penalty area, unmarked and bang central. He spears the ball over the bar. 53 mins: "Arsenal are playing not only with a false No9 but a false left back and right winger too!" writes David Jones. Yes, it's a finely nuanced tactical system, for sure. 57 mins: Arsenal allow Fuchs to carry the ball an awfully long way. Footballers often celebrate being allowed to carry the ball an awfully long way by having a random pot-shot at the end of it, and this one flies straight into Mertesacker and away for a corner, which Höwedes heads into the ground and over the bar. 59 mins: You want goals? Every other game bar one has them, and Ajax have just scored a second against Manchester City to make it 2-1. 61 mins: "Never mind False 9s and all that malarkey," writes Gary Naylor from inside a West End cabaret club, "this season Arsenal are playing with false hopes. Again." A bad sign for Arsenal: Cazorla is sufficiently narked by the way this match is panning out that he just had a bit of a swing at Farfán's ankles. He missed, fortunately. 63 mins: Total shots tonight, from both teams: nine. On target: one. 66 mins: Gervinho attacks on the left wing, quite nicely, but the problem when he crosses is that Arsenal's only striker is him, and he's not there to finish it off. Ramsey is the nearest they've got to the ball, and he's six yards away as it fizzes across the penalty area to safety. 67 mins: Schalke take off Holtby, and bring on Tranquillo Barnetta. Did you know that Holtby's father is English? 69 mins: Manchester City are now 3-1 down at Ajax. 71 mins: Barnetta just had a crossing chance from the right with Arsenal's marking absolutely all over the place in the middle. His cross went over the lot of them. 72 mins: Gervinho takes on Jermaine Jones on the goal-line, inside the penalty area, and goes down. He, like Afellay in the first half, is booked for diving, though this looks like an excellent decision. 75 mins: Schalke work the ball to Farfán in the inside-right channel. He takes the ball towards the goal-line, working a phenomenal crossing position, but then fails to find a teammate. Arsenal prepare to bring on Giroud. 76 mins: Farfán slides another cross past every blue shirt and out for a throw-in. Giroud comes on, replacing Gervinho. GOAL! Arsenal 0 Schalke 1 (Huntelaar, 77) And that has been coming! For about an hour! Another attack down the right, another poor cross. This fails to clear the first defender, the ball looping towards the middle of the pitch, where not only does a Schalke player win the header, he also nods it 10 yards into the path of an unmarked Huntelaar, bursting into the penalty area, and the Dutchman smacks the ball low and hard past Mannone. 79 mins: Schalke attack again down the right, and again slide a cross across the goalmouth without a striker getting close to it. This time Huntelaar peeled off for the cut-back at precisely the moment the ball was sent to precisely where he would have been standing all alone had he just kept running in a straight line. 81 mins: The last time Arsenal lost a European match at home to continental opposition, it was 2003, they were still at Highbury and they were playing Internazionale. 83 mins: Arsenal make a couple more substitutions, replacing Podolski with Arshavin and Jenkinson with Gnabry, whose first touch takes the mickey out of Afellay, followed by a cross which finds Unnerstall instead of Mertesacker. GOAL! Arsenal 0 Schalke 2 (Afellay, 85) Finally someone realises that Farfán likes to cross the ball low across the six-yard box, and gets themselves a tap-in. Yet another attack down the right, yet again André Santos is nowhere near Farfán, and it's all too easy as he slides the ball across goal and Afellay arrives at the far post to knock it into a gaping goal. 88 mins: How André Santos has finished this match is beyond me. He's struggled for the large majority of it, has been absolutely run ragged by Farfán or anyone else who's fancies a go. He's not a terrible player, but he's unsuited to these opponents and their tactics, and has been found very badly wanting. He'd be getting 3/10 if I was doing match ratings on this one. Anyway, Schalke have brought Marica on for Huntelaar. 90 mins: Latest score in Montpellier is 1-1. We're into the first of three minutes' stoppage time here. 90+2 mins: Into the last minute of stoppage time, and not many people have stuck around to see it. 90+3 mins: Arsenal have a shot! On target! Gnabry's curler is heading towards the far corner before the goalkeeper flings himself across to make a fairly comfortable but handsome save. That's the home side's first goalbound shot of the night. 90+4 mins: Peeeeeeep! It's all over! Which is just as well, as far as Arsenal are concerned. Final thoughts: Olympiakos got a late winner in Montpellier and go third in the group, but still three points behind Arsenal with half the group now played out. Arsenal will still be very confident of coming second and progressing, so there's no need to get too despondent. And there are quite a few injuries about, so there are excuses. But after an opening 15 minutes where the home side hogged the ball but had little idea what to do with it, that game just got worse and worse. I can only assume that André Santos had been told to position himself infield, and either a bit ahead or a bit behind the rest of the back four, but by no means ever alongside them. For that was not the performance of a left-back. There were other issues – Gervinho's lack of goal threat; Ramsey failing to offer an option on the right of midfield, leaving Carl Jenkinson to cover that entire flank on his own – but for the whole game the gaping hole on the left of their defence looked likely to be Arsenal's undoing, yet they stubbornly failed to do anything about it, and that is where both goals came from, and even though the first was eventually created by a header in the middle of the pitch, it was scored by a man who would have been offside had Santos not been standing three yards behind the rest of the defence. His performance was bizarre from first to last, and Arsenal's refusal to do anything about it was ridiculous. If Farfán was as good at crossing as he was at making Santos look like an idiot, Schalke could have scored a hatfull. All of which would have been less bad had Arsenal offered anything in attack. They did get forward, occasionally, but all of their attacks came from wide areas, most usually the left, and on pretty much no occasion did they have a man in possession wide and a man likely to compete for the cross in the centre, at the same time. The central midfield threesome did nothing terribly wrong, but they were largely watching the match be decided on the flanks. It was a horrible, depressing night for a club who had been nurturing a proud home record in European competition. They were, frankly, routed. Arsenal have lost at Norwich and at home in five days and are looking shaky; Schalke have won at Dortmund and at the Emirates in the same period and are looking rather impressive. Gut gespielt, jungs, as they say in Germany. According to Google.
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• Keep track of tonight's latest scores 90 mins: Latest score in Montpellier is 1-1. We're into the first of three minutes' stoppage time here. 88 mins: How André Santos has finished this match is beyond me. He's struggled for the large majority of it, has been absolutely run ragged by Farfán or anyone else who's fancies a go. He's not a terrible player, but he's unsuited to these opponents and their tactics, and has been found very badly wanting. He'd be getting 3/10 if I was doing match ratings on this one. Anyway, Schalke have brought Marica on for Huntelaar. GOAL! Arsenal 0 Schalke 2 (Afellay, 85) Finally someone realises that Farfán likes to cross the ball low across the six-yard box, and gets themselves a tap-in. Yet another attack down the right, yet again André Santos is nowhere near Farfán, and it's all too easy as he slides the ball across goal and Afellay arrives at the far post to knock it into a gaping goal. 83 mins: Arsenal make a couple more substitutions, replacing Podolski with Arshavin and Jenkinson with Gnabry, whose first touch takes the mickey out of Afellay, followed by a cross which finds Unnerstall instead of Mertesacker. 81 mins: The last time Arsenal lost a European match at home to continental opposition, it was 2003, they were still at Highbury and they were playing Internazionale. 79 mins: Schalke attack again down the right, and again slide a cross across the goalmouth without a striker getting close to it. This time Huntelaar peeled off for the cut-back at precisely the moment the ball was sent to precisely where he would have been standing all alone had he just kept running in a straight line. GOAL! Arsenal 0 Schalke 1 (Huntelaar, 77) And that has been coming! For about an hour! Another attack down the right, another poor cross. This fails to clear the first defender, the ball looping towards the middle of the pitch, where not only does a Schalke player win the header, he also nods it 10 yards into the path of an unmarked Huntelaar, bursting into the penalty area, and the Dutchman smacks the ball low and hard past Mannone. 76 mins: Farfán slides another cross past every blue shirt and out for a throw-in. Giroud comes on, replacing Gervinho. 75 mins: Schalke work the ball to Farfán in the inside-right channel. He takes the ball towards the goal-line, working a phenomenal crossing position, but then fails to find a teammate. Arsenal prepare to bring on Giroud. 72 mins: Gervinho takes on Jermaine Jones on the goal-line, inside the penalty area, and goes down. He, like Afellay in the first half, is booked for diving, though this looks like an excellent decision. 71 mins: Barnetta just had a crossing chance from the right with Arsenal's marking absolutely all over the place in the middle. His cross went over the lot of them. 69 mins: Manchester City are now 3-1 down at Ajax. 67 mins: Schalke take off Holtby, and bring on Tranquillo Barnetta. Did you know that Holtby's father is English? 66 mins: Gervinho attacks on the left wing, quite nicely, but the problem when he crosses is that Arsenal's only striker is him, and he's not there to finish it off. Ramsey is the nearest they've got to the ball, and he's six yards away as it fizzes across the penalty area to safety. 63 mins: Total shots tonight, from both teams: nine. On target: one. 61 mins: "Never mind False 9s and all that malarkey," writes Gary Naylor from inside a West End cabaret club, "this season Arsenal are playing with false hopes. Again." A bad sign for Arsenal: Cazorla is sufficiently narked by the way this match is panning out that he just had a bit of a swing at Farfán's ankles. He missed, fortunately. 59 mins: You want goals? Every other game bar one has them, and Ajax have just scored a second against Manchester City to make it 2-1. 57 mins: Arsenal allow Fuchs to carry the ball an awfully long way. Footballers often celebrate being allowed to carry the ball an awfully long way by having a random pot-shot at the end of it, and this one flies straight into Mertesacker and away for a corner, which Höwedes heads into the ground and over the bar. 53 mins: "Arsenal are playing not only with a false No9 but a false left back and right winger too!" writes David Jones. Yes, it's a finely nuanced tactical system, for sure. 50 mins: What a chance! Farfán takes the ball past Santos bizarrely easily, and slides a cut-back to Höwedes, three yards inside the penalty area, unmarked and bang central. He spears the ball over the bar. 48 mins: Chance for Arsenal! Santos's cross ends with Coquelin, who sends it low, back towards the six-yard box. Ramsey, on the near post, attempts a backheel flick which flies straight into a defender. Podolski, standing behind him, looks frustrated. Schalke hare down the other end, and Arteta collects a booking in return for stopping them, and more specifically Afellay. 46 mins: Peeeeeeeep! They're off! And Schalke have replaced Marco Höger with Jermaine Jones. Statistical update: According to @1DavidWall, some chap who works for Opta, "66% of Schalke's play in the Arsenal half has been down the right flank, 20% down the middle and 14% down the left". Half-time: After an exceedingly quiet first quarter-hour, Schalke have looked the most likely scorers. And they definitely should have had a penalty, Afellay's 14th-minute booking looking absurdly harsh upon further replay-viewage. The key issues are at left-back, where André Santos struggled with Farfán and ignored Uchida, and attack, where Gervinho struggled to look like an attacker. Steve Bould has some work to do at half-time, for sure. 45 mins: Peeeeeeep! Not a bad half, but it's been so fast-flowing that the referee has decided that not a single second of stoppage time is required. 43 mins: A lovely ball is played over the Arsenal defence to Uchida – who Santos has just left alone, inexplicably. He slides the ball across to Huntelaar, who slams it wide of the near post. Good chance. 42 mins: Poor Carl Jenkinson sprints 60 yards to add another man to Arsenal's latest attack. It turns out this is quite fast. He streaks across the screen and is spotted by Gervinho, who pops the ball perfectly into his path, and then he curls his cross over the crossbar and out for a goal kick. All that effort! 39 mins: André Santos, sick of chasing after Farfán, decides to do some attacking of his own. He gets into the penalty area and it all looks quite promising until he kicks Uchida's calf instead of the ball and it all ends with a free kick. 36 mins: Schalke attack again down the right – where they have concentrated the vast majority of their forward forays – but Huntelaar is offside by the time they get round to crossing the ball. 35 mins: Arsenal's Cazorla/Coquelin/Arteta central midfielder trio is pretty strong. If only they had a half-decent attacker to aim at. 32 mins: More eye-catching defending from Arsenal. This time the ball is pulled back to Farfán, who cleverly cuts inside the first defender to set himself up for a shot – which cannons into Mertesacker, who has fair flung himself at it, and away to safety. 30 mins: A lovely interception from Vermaelen, timing his rush forwards perfectly. He then overhits his pass to Gervinho by about 50 yards – the striker was on the half-way line; the ball takes one bounce before landing in Unnerstall's hands. 28 mins: Did you know that Lewis Holtby could have played for England – his father is called Christopher and comes from Liverpool? Of course you did: the commentators mention it every 8.3 seconds. 27 mins: Arteta finds Cazorla, who turns, runs 10 yards and then shoots, from 30 yards out. The ball deflects wide. 24 mins: A lovely pass from Cazorla finds Gervinho running clear, this time to the left of the penalty area. He cuts inside, hurdles one challenge, and then runs straight into the next defender and falls over. 23 mins: Cazorla picks a German pocket in midfield and pushes the ball to Gervinho to his right. The forward messes up the return ball, and the chance is lost. 18 mins: Another low cross from the left from Podolski, but this one runs behind Ramsey and away from danger. Watchable stuff, this. 17 mins: Since Schalke stopped not attacking, they haven't stopped attacking. The latest push forward ended with Uchida being given offside. 15 mins: Now Farfán comes inside from the right wing, and beats Vermaelen as the Belgian slides in with an attempted tackle. The forward falls over, but there was little or, more likely, no contact. This time Vermaelen is booked. 14 mins: Farfan pokes the ball into the penalty area, but too far ahead of Afellay. Jenkinson, though, decides to stop running, Mannone sprints out to make good his mess, Afellay gets to the ball first and then falls over Mannone's arms. The referee books the forward, but it could very easily have been a penalty. 13 mins: To be fair, Schalke are getting plenty of people forward when they get the ball. They're just not finding them. 11 mins: Arsenal have had 75% of the possession so far. Schalke went to Borussia Dortmund at the weekend, scored three and might have had twice that – surely they didn't use these tactics then? 9 mins: Cazorla slides the ball to Podolski, skimming down the left flank. His low cross is a decent one, but Gervinho meets it before the near post, which means it would take a bit of skill and guile to guide the ball goalwards. So he pokes it wide. 7 mins: Still sparring – neither side has bothered their opponent's penalty area yet. Schalke winning the fans' noise battle, though. 4 mins: Anyway, Lewis Holtby just produced rather a nice turn to evade a couple of marauding Arsenalmen. Didn't lead to much, but thought it was worth a mention. 3 min: Incredibly annoyingly, the screen I'm looking at isn't wide enough to see Sky's clock. I've now started my own stopwatch, but when I say three minutes, it could actually be four. Sorry. 1 min: Peeeeeep! We're off! 7.44pm: We watch, and hear, the referee, Jonas Eriksson, conduct the coin toss. There is no head, and no tail – the choice is between blue and yellow. That's not a coin – he's tossing with an unusually colourful Othello piece. 7.40pm: The players are in the tunnel. Wenger is in the stands. He's still banned. 7.36pm: Kick-off swiftly approaching. Apropos nothing very much, I took my children (five and three-and-a-half) to their first ever football match last weekend. Three and a half is too young to watch a full game of football, I think, let alone a boring goalless one. Anyway, we survived for 87 minutes, most of it spent shoving snacks down his yawning gob rather than actually following the action, before giving up. Cue an inevitably last-minute winner for the home team, inevitably. Bah! Hello world! Historical statistics don't prove anything, of course, but Arsenal's record at home to German opposition: P11 W9 D1 L1, ending with six wins on the spin; Schalke's record away at English opposition: P5 W0 D1 L4, that draw coming in their first visit, to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1958, since when they've lost every game by an aggregate scoreline of 14-4. Inauspicious doesn't even begin to sum that up, from a Schalke perspective. Team news, then, and midfielder Francis Coquelin replaces Olivier Giroud in Arsenal's starting XI, while Arsène Wenger is touchline-ban-free and is able to skulk about his technical area with wild abandon. So, those teams then:
Arsenal: Mannone; Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, André Santos; Ramsey, Coquelin, Arteta, Podolski; Cazorla; Gervinho. Subs: Shea, Koscielny, Giroud, Djourou, Arshavin, Chamakh, Gnabry.
Schalke: Unnerstall; Uchida, Höwedes, Matip, Fuchs; Höger, Neustäcker, Holtby, Afellay; Farfán, Huntelaar. Subs: Hildebrand, Marica, Jones, Barnetta, Moritz, Draxler, Kolasinac.
Referee: Jonas Eriksson (Sweden). Now, I'm off for some grub. Back at 19.25 BST. Bye!
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Civil suit accuses bank of selling dodgy mortgages to government-controlled financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Bank of America defrauded the US government in a scheme called "the hustle", federal prosecutors alleged on Wednesday as they sued the bank $1bn in compensation. The justice department filed a civil complaint in New York seeking recompense for some of the massive losses suffered by quasi-government controlled mortgage finance firms Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae following the collapse of the ill-fated housing boom. In a scheme that was "spectacularly brazen in scope" Preet Bharara, US attorney for the southern district of New York, said the bank "made disastrously bad loans and stuck taxpayers with the bill". The charges relate to Countrywide Financial, once the largest seller of sub-prime home loans. Countrywide was bought by Bank of America for $2.5bn in 2008 as the loan firm headed toward collapse. It has since cost the bank tens of billions of dollars in write-offs for bad loans, legal costs and settlements with government agencies. Bharara charges that the Bank of America continued Countrywide's abusive practices even after the purchase. "Countrywide and Bank of America systematically removed every check in favor of its own balance – they cast aside underwriters, eliminated quality controls, incentivized unqualified personnel to cut corners, and concealed the resulting defects," he said. According to the suit, Countrywide operated a scheme called "the hustle", aimed at boosting the speed at which it originated and sold loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bharara said that between 2007 and 2009 Countrywide and Bank of America axed normal quality control checks on loans and falsely claimed the loans qualified for insurance from Fannie and Freddie. The two government-backed entities were left with billions of dollars of bad loans after the housing market collapsed. According to top financial watchdog the Securities and Exchange Commission Freddie Mac's sub-prime mortgage holdings had reached $244bn, or 14% of its portfolio, by 30 June 2008. This is the first time the justice department has gone after a bank suspected of selling bad loans to Fannie and Freddie. Peter Henning, professor of law at Wayne State University, said Bank of America's Countrywide purchase had secured its place as "the worst deal from hell". But he questioned the decision to pursue a civil rather than criminal action. "Once again this is a civil suit. Is anyone ever going to be held accountable? It seems that they are charging someone systematically removed the controls here that were meant to protect the mortgage market and Freddie and Fannie. Someone has to be accountable for that," he said. The suit is the second this month that Bharara has brought against banks over their role in the housing bubble. Earlier this month Bharara sued Wells Fargo, accusing it of deceiving government agency the Federal Housing Administration about the quality of its loans in order to get those loans insured.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Minister warns that Khartoum 'reserves the right to strike back' after blaming Israel for attack on Yarmouk arms complex Sudan has warned that it has the right to retaliate after accusing Israel of carrying out an air strike on an arms factory, causing a huge explosion that killed two people. Ahmed Belal Osman, the Sudanese information minister, said that bombs from four aircraft struck a complex and triggered a blast that rocked the capital, Khartoum, before dawn on Wednesday. "Four planes coming from the east bombed the Yarmouk industrial complex," Belal told a press conference. "They used sophisticated technology … We believe that Israel is behind it." Belal recalled a 2009 attack on an arms convoy in the Red Sea province in eastern Sudan, resulting in scores of deaths, which his government also blamed on Israel. "We are now certain that this flagrant attack was authorised by the same state of Israel," he added. "The main purpose is to frustrate our military capabilities and stop any development there, and ultimately weaken our national sovereignty. "Sudan reserves the right to strike back at Israel." Officials showed journalists a video in which a huge crater could be seen next to two destroyed buildings and what appeared to be a rocket lying on the ground. Belal said an analysis of rocket debris and other material on the ground had shown that Israel was behind the attack. Sudan may take the issue to the UN security council, he added. The Israeli Defence Forces and foreign ministry both declined to comment on the Sudanese claim. Israel has a track record of carrying out operations against hostile states, but rarely acknowledges such actions. It has no diplomatic relationship with Sudan, and believes the country to have a role in arms trafficking to militant groups in Gaza. "It has been widely acknowledged that shipments of weapons are crossing Sudan on their way to Gaza," said an Israeli government source. The weapons were not thought to originate in Sudan but Khartoum was allowing trafficking to happen, he said. Khartoum has blamed Israel for previous attacks over recent years. In April 2011, two people were killed when a car was struck by a missile near Port Sudan."This is not the first time things have been attributed to us," said the Israeli government source. The powerful blast at the Yarmouk complex, which was built in 1996, sent exploding ammunition flying through the air. Local resident Abdelgadir Mohammed, 31, said a loud roar of what they believed was a plane prompted him and his brother to step outside their house at around midnight. "At first we thought it was more than one plane," he told the Associated Press. "Then we thought it was a plane crashing because of how sharp the sound was. Then we saw a flash of light, and after it came a really loud sound. It was an explosion." Mohammed said the explosion caused panic among the residents of the heavily populated low-income neighbourhood. Many fled to open spaces, fearing their homes were collapsing. He said ammunition was flying out of the factory into the air and falling inside homes. "It was a double whammy, the explosion at the factory and then the ammunition flying into the neighborhood. The ground shook. Some homes were badly damaged. The walls of our home cracked, so we left our house to sleep elsewhere. When we came back this morning, our beds and furniture were covered in ashes." Thick smoke blackened the sky over the complex, and firefighters needed more than two hours to extinguish the fire. Sudanese army spokesman Sawarmy Khaled said two people were killed and another was seriously injured. Others suffered from smoke inhalation. The US imposed economic, trade and financial sanctions against Sudan in 1997, citing the government's support for terrorism, including its sheltering of Osama bin Laden in Khartoum the mid-1990s.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Anti-Putin activist Leonid Razvozzhayev says he was thrown into van, returned to Moscow and tortured until he 'confessed' Leonid Razvozzhayev spoke quickly from the bed of his one-man jail cell. "I'm scared to stay here alone," he told the group of prison rights activists who had come to visit him. "I'm afraid those men – the ones who took me me, who tortured me – will come back." Razvozzhayev, a 39-year-old anti-Putin activist and aide to an opposition MP, flew to Ukraine last week amid a spiralling crackdown on Russia's opposition. Just a day after he arrived, Russian prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into him, the first step to bringing charges for allegedly organising mass unrest and a potential 10-year jail sentence. Thus Razvozzhayev began the long process of bidding for political asylum – and in the midst of it disappeared, only to turn up at a Moscow prison two days later. Razvozzhayev's story – one of alleged abduction, torture, death threats and forced confessions – has sent a bolt of fear and anger through those opposed to Russia's powerful president. It is the latest, and perhaps most convoluted, tale to emerge from the Kremlin's attempt to put down the opposition that emerged to challenge Putin's return to power earlier this year. "He's not sure what day it is – he's in such a state, under such pressure," said Zoya Svetova, one of the five activists who visited Razvozzhayev on Tuesday. Svetova is a journalist for the New Times, an opposition magazine, in which she described her conversation with Razvozzhayev. Razvozzhayev told the group how he had left Russia for neighbouring Ukraine on 15 October. The next day, prosecutors in Moscow opened a criminal investigation into him and two fellow activists in the socialist Left Front – its leader, Sergei Udaltsov, and Konstantin Lebedev. They were suspected of plotting mass unrest and terrorist attacks in Russia, investigators said, citing a propaganda report on state-run television that claimed to show the men plotting revolution. Fearing the worst if he were to return to Russia, Razvozzhayev, an aide to outspoken parliamentary deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, decided to seek political asylum and approached the United Nations high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) on 19 October. They directed him to a partner organisation for legal counselling. The talks were long. He went out for a sandwich – and never came back. Razvozzhayev said four men were waiting for him at the exit. "They threw me in a minivan," the New Times quoted him as saying. "They put a tight black hat on me, so I couldn't see anything, and tied my arms and legs up with tape. And we were off." UNHCR issued a statement saying it was "deeply concerned" about his disappearance. They drove for hours in near total silence, Razvozzhayev said. At what he believes was the Russia-Ukraine border, he was put into another minivan and driven further. Once they stopped, he was handcuffed and dragged into a cellar and interrogated for two days, he said, alleging psychological torture. "For two days they didn't let me go to the toilet. I didn't eat, I didn't drink the whole time," Razvozzhayev told the prison rights activists. The handcuffs never came off, he added. The unidentified men pressured him into signing a confession and implicating his fellow activists, Razvozzhayev alleged. "They told me: if you don't answer our questions, then your children will be killed," he told the group. "I agreed to say what they wanted." He was then taken to the headquarters of the investigative committee in Moscow, a body akin to the FBI. Video obtained by Life News, a tabloid, and aired on its website on Sunday evening showed Razvozzhayev being transferred from the building to a waiting police van, shouting "Tell them I've been tortured". On Monday, the committee issued a statement saying Razvozzhayev had wilfully turned himself in. Officials have denied all claims of torture. The investigative committee charged Razvozzhayev on Tuesday and remanded him in custody for two months. Udaltsov is due to be charged on Friday, it said. The men face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. "The massive persecution of dissidents in Russia is continuing," the opposition said in a joint statement on Wednesday. ""The Russian authorities have turned to methods of direct pressure of force against its opponents." Activists held a day-long protest outside the headquarters of the federal security service, the main successor to the KGB, on Wednesday. "One week ago, we didn't think that a person could be abducted and forced into a confession," Svetova told the Guardian. "We didn't think it was possible to open a criminal case because of a TV programme. This didn't even exist in the Soviet Union. Who knows what's next." On Tuesday, the Russian parliament passed the latest in a string of laws that activists warn are designed to crack down on the opposition. The law, which must be signed by Putin before coming into force, expands the definition of high treason to include vague wording that could be used against any Russian who speaks to a foreigner, activists warned.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | National committee attacks president for 'trivialising' the campaign as Mitt Romney continues to gain momentum The Republicans opened up a new line of attack Wednesday accusing Barack Obama of trivialising the election by talking about Big Bird, binders and bayonets because he could not run on his first-term record. In a web ad, the Republican national committee says: "If you do not have a record to run on, you make a big election about small things." The ad came as Obama began two-day marathon trip round six battleground states as Romney's campaign showed signs of gathering momentum, attracting his biggest crowd of the campaign yet, with more than 10,000 turning out for a late-night rally Tuesday at Red Rocks, near Denver. Anticipating swing state after swing state toppling in his direction on election night, Romney said Colorado could be the one that takes him over the magic 270 number of electoral college votes. "We're on the homestretch now. And I think the people of Colorado are going to get us all the way there," Romney told them. The Republican ad carried clips of Obama talking about Big Bird and Elmo from Sesame Street, about his focus on Romney's debate remark in New York about binders full of women and Obama's dismissive remark in the last debate on Monday about the military having moved on beyond bayonets and horses.
As part of the frivolity charge, the Republican ad mentions Obama labelling the Republican candidate last week as suffering from 'Romnesia'. "Instead of talking about issues, the president offers petty attacks," the ad said. The Romney campaign team, co-ordinating its attack with the Republicans, issued a statement suggesting that Obama's 20-page leaflet on Tuesday setting out a second-term agenda was another example of small-scale politics, just a repackaging of old ideas. Obama campaign advisers, speaking to reporters aboard a plane following the president round the six battleground states, insisted the president was addressing the big issues in his campaign speeches, from the economy to health, from education to foreign policy. Jen Psaki, one of Obama's campaign spokeswoman, disputed Republican claims that the momentum was behind its campaign. She said that Obama was tied or ahead in every single swing state, that he was is ahead in terms of early voting and that, contrary to Republican claims, the campaign expected turn-out among Latinos and African Americans, who overwhelmingly support Obama, to be a record. "We expect the race to be razor-thin until the end," she said. In an interview with the Des Moines Register, which was initially off-the-record but is now on, Obama suggested that if he wins the election, it would be because Romney, in harsh rhetoric aimed at undocumented workers, had alienated Latinos. "Since this is off the record, I will just be very blunt. Should I win a second term, a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community," Obama said. In the interview, he also offered a little more detail on his plans for a second term, saying he would seek to complete immigration reform in his first year and that a 'grand bargain' could be agreed with Congress on tackling the deficit.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Names of at least three doctors passed to police investigating claims of sexual abuse at hospitals linked to former BBC DJ Detectives investigating the Jimmy Savile child abuse scandal have been passed details of three doctors who are alleged to have abused young people in their care, the Guardian understands. The doctors have been identified by victims who have come forward in the last fortnight and worked at various hospitals where Savile had links over several decades. The former DJ had long associations with Leeds General Infirmary, Broadmoor and Stoke Mandeville. He had an office and living quarters in Broadmoor, a bedroom in Stoke Mandeville and was given free reign at the Leeds hospital. It is understood the names of at least three doctors have been passed to police investigating living individuals over claims they were at the centre of a loose network of alleged child abusers connected with Savile. Detectives are investigating individuals at a variety of institutions, and are not focusing on celebrities. They have not found evidence of a paedophile ring – involving the organised procurement of children for others – but are examining individuals who might have had access to vulnerable children, some of whom were associated with Savile. The Guardian can reveal that Stoke Mandeville was at the centre of a child sex abuse scandal in the late 1980s when a consultant paediatrician was investigated after a whistleblower came forward to the health authority. Dr Michael Salmon, a consultant paediatrician at the Aylesbury hospital, was suspended in 1989 after an investigation by government auditors sparked by concerns about possible financial improprieties. During the inquiry investigators found evidence relating to teenage patients of Salmon and a criminal investigation was launched. Salmon was jailed for three years in 1990 at Reading Crown Court after admitting indecent assaults on two 13-year-old girls and a 16-year-old girl. Three years earlier he had been praised by Diana, Princess of Wales, for helping to organise a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida for 300 disabled children. Salmon was struck off the medical register in 1991, a year after his conviction. The GMC committee said at the time they were "appalled by the disgraceful behaviour towards vulnerable patients which led to Dr Salmon's conviction". Dr Raymond Brown, who worked as a consultant paediatrician with Salmon, said the doctor would have known Savile because everyone at the hospital knew him. Savile, who raised £40m for Stoke Mandeville, had boasted that he 'lived' in a bedroom managers had given him and could do as he pleased. "We all knew [Savile] because he was such a presence at Stoke Mandeville," said Brown. "I personally had no inkling about Savile's behaviour, this has all as much as a surprise to me as anyone else. "He wasn't a person I was mad about but he was a philanthropist and he was responsible for getting an enormous amount of money for the hospital. He would come into the wards, and I never saw a problem with him doing so, all the doctors knew him. I am absolutely shocked by all of this." Brown said he had had no contact with Salmon since he was sacked and struck off the medical register. Salmon could not be contacted. The NSPCC said on Wednesday it had received 161 calls directly relating to allegations against Savile, which they had passed to police. The charity has also passed 24 allegations of abuse by other individuals to Scotland Yard. Peter Saunders, from the National Association for People abused in Childhood, said they had been contacted by 35 alleged victims who were directly accusing Savile or other people close to him. The development comes as the director of public prosecutions (DPP) announced he was to review the original police file sent to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) alleging child abuse by Savile. David Cameron told MPs during prime minister's questions on Wednesday that Keir Starmer will investigate why the CPS took the decision not to prosecute over allegations in 2009. Starmer has also asked to speak to the attorney general, Dominic Grieve, about whether the CPS should start referring Savile sex abuse cases to other relevant agencies, including social services, where the evidence is not deemed strong enough for a criminal prosecution. At the time the CPS advised the police that no further action should be taken because of lack of evidence against the BBC star, who was still alive. Savile died in October 2011. Cameron told the house that the DPP had ordered a review of the evidence considered by the CPS in 2009 relating to indecent assault allegations against Savile from the 1970s. The evidence was submitted by Surrey police, which began an investigation in 2007. In a brief statement on the Savile scandal, he said he did not rule out any further inquiries into the BBC, hospitals and other establishments where Savile is said to have abused vulnerable children. "The director of public prosecutions has confirmed that his principal legal adviser will again review the papers from the time when a case was put to the CPS for prosecution," Cameron added. "The director of public prosecutions specifically is going to consider what more can be done to alert relevant authorities where there are concerns that a prosecution is not taken forward. "The government will do everything it can do, other institutions must do what they can do, to make sure that we learn the lesson of this and it can never happen again. "The most important thing is that the police investigation is properly resourced and is allowed to continue. I don't rule out further steps but we do now have independent investigations by the BBC, independent investigations into the NHS."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | UN envoy says Bashar al-Assad has accepted a truce for the four-day Eid al-Adha holiday, but the opposition remains sceptical Long-suffering Syrians could face a brief respite from months of violence if a UN call for a ceasefire to mark a Muslim holiday comes into force on Thursday. Lakhdar Brahimi, envoy for the UN and Arab League, told the UN security council that Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, has accepted a truce, though there was no confirmation from Damascus. Opposition activists expressed scepticism about the prospects for a ceasefire for the four-day Eid al-Adha holiday, which celebrates the end of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, and starts on Thursday. Many warned that Assad was simply playing for time. The Syrian government has said that the opposition is too disunited to observe any truce. Abdelbaset Sieda, the head of the Syrian National Council, the main anti-Assad group in exile, told Associated Press he had little hope a ceasefire would take hold. "This regime, we don't trust it, because it is saying something and doing something else on the ground," Sieda said in an phone interview from Stockholm. Fahd al-Misr, a spokesman for the opposition joint military command, told the Guardian: "We won't allow the regime to catch its breath and commit more massacres after the truce." Jabhat al-Nusra, a jihadi group, rejected the ceasefire call as a "filthy game". Crucially, there is no provision for international observers or monitors, without whom it is hard to see how any ceasefire could be enforced. The Arab League and UN both despatched observers earlier in the 19-month conflict, with little effect. But it was still possible that a ceasefire could formally take effect, with rare international backing for a palliative gesture rather than an attempt to reach a comprehensive settlement of the crisis, which has already left an estimated 30,000 dead. Strikingly, both the Russian and Chinese ambassadors to the UN expressed support for a ceasefire. Both countries have good relations with Syria and have protected it from any censure or punishment by the security council. But the last attempt at a ceasefire collapsed within just a few days in April, with both sides accusing the other of breaching it. Brahimi, who took over from Kofi Annan in September, told reporters in Cairo on Wednesday: "After the visit I made to Damascus, there is agreement from the Syrian government for a ceasefire during the Eid." Observers said he may have been deliberately trying to raise expectations and "bounce" the Syrians into agreement. But shortly afterwards, Syria's foreign ministry said the proposal was still being studied by the army command, with a final decision to be announced on Thursday. The ceasefire talk came on another day of violence, with government warplanes carrying out bombing raids on the northern town of Maarat al-Numan and nearby villages while rebels surrounded an army base to its east. Five people from one family, including a child and a woman, were killed in the air strikes, according to an opposition monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. In the Damascus suburb of Tadamon, a terrorist car bomb killed four people and injured 11, state media reported. Official media also highlighted a Russian military claim that armed groups in Syria have been supplied with shoulder-launched air defence systems including US-made Stinger missiles. Maarat al-Numan has fallen to the rebels, cutting Syria's main north-south highway, a strategic route for Assad to move troops from Damascus to Aleppo, the country's largest city where the insurgents have a foothold. Fighting raged around a nearby military base whose capture would be a significant step towards creating a "safe zone" that could allow them to focus forces on Assad's strongholds in southern Syria.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Federal prosecutor files suit over mortgage fraud in first civil suit brought concerning loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan says he's suing Bank of America for $1bn for mortgage fraud against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. US attorney Preet Bharara says Countrywide, which was later bought by Bank of America, had procedures designed to process loans at high speed and generated thousands of fraudulent loans. Bharara says it's the first civil fraud suit brought by the justice department concerning loans that were later sold to Fannie and Freddie. More on this story as it develops.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Romney campaign says 'we disagree on policy but still support him' and declines to pull endorsement ad running in Indiana
• Follow the latest in our US politics live blog Mitt Romney's campaign has refused to withdraw his support from Richard Mourdock, the Republican Senate candidate in Indiana who claimed that pregnancies from rape are "something that God intended to happen". In a press conference on Wednesday morning, Mourdock, stood by his comments, apologising only for people misinterpreting them. He said: "I said life is precious. I believe life is precious. I believe rape is a brutal act. It is something that I abhor. That anyone could come away with any meaning other than what I just said is regrettable, and for that I apologize. The apology – as I said before, roll this tape back – is if anybody misinterpreted what I said." He added: "I absolutely abhor violence. I abhor sexual violence. I abhor rape. And I'm confident God abhors it." Amid pressure for their presidential candidate to publicly distance himself from Mourdock, the Romney campaign said that while he disagrees with Mourdock on when abortion should be allowed, he would not withdraw his support. Romney's press secretary Andrea Saul told journalists on the campaign plane that Romney "disagrees with Richard Mourdock, and Mr Mourdock's comments do not reflect Governor Romney's views", Buzzfeed reported. Saul added: "We disagree on the policy regarding exceptions for rape and incest but still support him." Both Mourdock and Romney's campaign said that an advert Romney recorded endorsing Mourdock's Senate bid would not be pulled. "As senator, Richard will be the 51st vote to repeal and replace government-run healthcare. Richard will help stop the liberal Reid-Pelosi agenda. There's so much at stake. I hope you'll join me in supporting Richard Mourdock for US senate," Romney says in the ad. Other Republican politicians have publicly distanced themselves from Mourdock following his comments, made during a debate with Democrat Joe Donnelly and others on Tuesday. New Hampshire senator Kelly Ayotte had been scheduled to campaign with Mourdock in Indiana, but her spokesman, Jeff Grappone, told the Associated Press that Ayotte disagrees with Mourdock's comments, which do not represent her views. Grappone said Ayotte will remain in New Hampshire. The Republican candidate for governor in Indiana, Mike Pence, said he "strongly disagree[s]" with Mourdock and has urged him to apologise. In his press conference on Wednesday, Mourdock lamented his "less than fully articulate use of words". "Humility is an important part of my faith," he said. "I am a much more humble person this morning because so many people mistook, twisted, came to misunderstand the points i was trying to make". During Tuesday's debate, Mourdock, who is pro-life except in cases where the mother's life is at risk, was asked about his stance on abortion where a woman has been raped. "I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God," Mourdock said. "And, I think, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen." Democrats seized on the comment and called upon Romney to withdraw his endorsement for Mourdock and pull his ad now airing in Indiana on behalf of the Senate candidate. "It is perplexing that he wouldn't demand to have that ad taken down," Obama campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki told reporters. The campaign said President Obama found Mourdock's comments "outrageous and demeaning to women" and said the assertions were "a reminder that a Republican Congress working with a Republican president in Mitt Romney would feel that women should not be able to make choices about their own healthcare." Romney was pro-choice as governor of Massachusetts, but is now pro-life except in certain cases. Vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan is opposed to abortion in all cases, with no exceptions – on the face of it a stronger stance than Mourdock. Mourdock did receive support from the national Republican senatorial committee. In a statement, its chairman, John Cornyn, said: "Richard and I, along with millions of Americans – including even Joe Donnelly – believe that life is a gift from God. To try and construe his words as anything other than a restatement of that belief is irresponsible and ridiculous," Cornyn said. Mourdock is not the first Republican to find himself in hot water over abortion beliefs. In August, Todd Akin, Republican Senate nominee from Missouri, said that pregnancy as a result of "legitimate rape" is rare as "the female body has ways to try and shut that whole thing down". Just last week Republican congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois told reporters "you can't find one instance" where it has been necessary to perform an abortion due to the risk to the mother's life due to medical advances. Medical experts note that there are some cases where the only option in the case of complications sustained during pregnancy is to abort the foetus. The Indianapolis Star reported that after the debate, Donnelly, the Democratic senate candidate, "shook his head over" Mourdock's comments. "I don't know any God who would ever intend something like that," Donnelly reportedly said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Romney under pressure to distance himself from Senate hopeful, who received endorsement from Romney days before Mitt Romney is under pressure to publicly distance himself from a GOP Senate candidate who has claimed that pregnancies from rape are "something that God intended to happen". Republican Richard Mourdock, running for the US Senate in Indiana, made the comments during a debate with Democrat Joe Donnelly and others on Tuesday. Mitt Romney had endorsed Mourdock in a television advert just two days earlier, making the comments particularly embarrassing. "I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God," Mourdock said. "And, I think, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen." Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul told the Associated Press that Romney "disagrees with Richard Mourdock's comments, and they do not reflect his views". Romney is opposed to abortion except in cases of rape, incest or where the mother's life is at risk. But Romney is yet to comment on Mourdock's remarks, and his campaign has not said whether Romney's advert endorsing Mourdock's Senate bid will be pulled. The Republican candidate for governor in Indiana, Mike Pence, has said he "strongly disagree[s]" with Mourdock and has urged him to apologise. "This fall, I'm supporting Richard Mourdock for Senate," Romney says in the video advert supporting Mourdock, which was published to Mourdock's YouTube channel on Sunday. "As senator, Richard will be the 51st vote to repeal and replace government run healthcare. Richard will help stop the liberal Reid-Pelosi agenda. There's so much at stake. I hope you'll join me in supporting Richard Mourdock for US senate." The advert is "approved by" Mourdock, meaning it may be down to his campaign, rather than Romney's, as to whether the spot is taken down. Romney was pro-choice as governor of Massachusetts, but is now pro-life except in certain cases. Vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan is opposed to abortion in all cases, with no exceptions. Mourdock is not the first Republican to find himself in hot water over abortion beliefs. In August Todd Akin, Republican Senate nominee from Missouri, said that pregnancy as a result of "legitimate rape" is rare as "the female body has ways to try and shut that whole thing down". Just last week Republican congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois told reporters "you can't find one instance" where it has been necessary to perform an abortion due to the risk to the mother's life due to medical advances. Medical experts note that there are some cases where the only option in the case of complications sustained during pregnancy is to abort the foetus.
The Indianapolis Star reported that after the debate, Donnelly, the Democratic senate candidate, "shook his head over" Mourdock's comments. "I don't know any God who would ever intend something like that," Donnelly reportedly said. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic national committee, said Mourdock's comments were "outrageous and demeaning to women" and called for Romney to pull the Mourdock advert.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Detroit Tigers face off against the San Francisco Giants in the 2012 World Series. How do the teams match up in the key areas: players, managers, Twitter, music and just how loud is the home crowd Who has the advantage in the seven game World Series to determine the best team in baseball? Why bother to watch the games themselves when you could use scientific methodology to evaluate the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants in several different categories and decide the winner that way? It's a time saver! Starting Pitching Starting pitching wins championships, they say. I don't know exactly who "they" are but I'm not going to disagree with them. It's not the only factor, of course, if it was I would just end this article after this entry and grab a smoothie, but it's where discussion of any championship team should start. The Detroit Tigers' rotation begins with Justin Verlander who is basically the best pitcher in the known universe. Honestly, I'm not sure if that "basically" is even a necessary qualifier there. In the past, the only knock on Verlander has been that he has been underwhelming in the playoffs. Well forget that, the complete-game throwing k-machine has been pitching as well as he ever has this October and he'll be available for at least two games of this series. Beyond Verlander, the Tigers have an ideal number two in Doug Fister and solid No. 3 and No. 4 starters with Miami import Anibal Sanchez and strikeout wizard Max Scherzer. Keep in mind, however, that we may be overrating the Tigers' pitching because we last saw them pitching against the New York Yankees, who could have made any team's pitchers look transcendent. Alex Rodriguez was practically the defensive player of the series for the Tigers, nobody helped out this pitching staff more. The San Francisco Giants have a better pitching staff than it seems. Ryan Vogelsong, who could have been the NLCS MVP, is their best pitcher but he won't be available to pitch for a few days. Matt Cain, who just helped the Giants clinch their World Series appearance, has struggled in a few of his postseason starts, probably suffering the painful after-effect of too many "Cain is Able" headlines during the regular season. Their starting lineup also includes the somewhat struggling Madison Bumgarner and two fading Cy Young winners in Tim Lincecum (who may only appear out of the bullpen) and Barry Zito. Yes, the two Cy Young winners are the weak links of this rotation, how weird is baseball? Advantage: Tigers. Justin Verlander starts Game 1 for the Tigers. Barry Zito and his magic pixie dust start for the Giants. Questionably named playersThe Detroit Tigers have shortstop Jhonny Peralta. The San Francisco Giants have outfielder Angel Pagan, whose name is practically an oxymoron. Advantage: Teh Dteroit Tgiers OffenseSorry San Francisco but the team that has a Triple Crown winner claims this category. The Detroit Tigers' Miguel Cabrera was the most dangerous hitter in baseball this season, aided by the fact that he has Prince Fielder hitting behind him. One problem with the Tigers lineup is that their ALCS MVP (and bastion of cultural sensitivity) Delmon Young is a DH and they don't do that sort of thing in San Francisco, it being a National League city and all. They will have to find a way of fitting him in the lineup, possibly by sticking him in the outfield. That won't be at the expense of Austin Jackson who has gone from strikeout-prone defense-first outfielder to a dangerous leadoff guy with pop. The Giants? The Giants have their secret weapon, the Blockbuster, Marco Scu-scu-scutaro who went from being dumped by the Red Sox for salary relief to the Most Difficult Out In The Postseason and your NLCS MVP. Plus, the Giants, true to their name, have their own hefty slugging third baseman in the form of Pablo "Kung Fu Panda" Sandoval. The rest of the Giants offense has been MIA at times, particularly Comeback Player of the Year and possible NL MVP Buster Posey. Also, for much of the playoffs, outfielder Hunter Pence had been dishonoring the name "Hunter" with his weird swings and rally-killing at-bats until he broke open NLCS Game 7 with his broken-bat double. Advantage: Tigers. By quite a bit, honestly. DefenseThe main difference between the Giants and the Tigers as far as defense goes is that the Giants actually have one. Advantage: Giants. BullpenA funny thing happened to the Tigers on the way to a surefire Game 1 ALCS win: Jose Valverde. Okay, that joke might not be funny for Detroit baseball fans. Detroit's roller coaster closer finally came off the rails in game one. The Tigers rallied to win it in extra innings, but manager Jim Leyland reacted by installing set up guy/drug pun Phil Coke as his new closer. After Coke, the Tigers bullpen features Al Alburquerque, Joaquín Benoit and Octavio Dotel on his "pitch for every baseball team that exists and possibly a few imaginary ones" tour. Unfortunately there hasn't been a big enough sample size to know how good this reconstituted bullpen actually is because the Yankees series only lasted three more games, the last of them a complete blowout. The Giants lost their closer too, but to injury rather than terribleness. Brian "No Relation" Wilson had Tommy John surgery at the beginning of the year, sparing the world hundreds of terrible ads and unfunny talk show appearances. Sergio Romo eventually won the Now Apparently Obligatory Giants Closer's Beard during the regular season. Behind him are a number of strong bullpen arms, like Santiago Casilla and George Kontos, that kept the Giants in games throughout the National League Championship Series. Advantage: Giants. By virtue of not having Valverde-related explosions to deal with. Home field advantageOf course, the San Francisco Giants have home field advantage over the Detroit Tigers because the National League beat the American League in the All-Star Game. Now, normally this is a really ridiculous idea, but this year the winning pitcher was Matt Cain and the game's MVP was then-Giant Melky Cabrera (before his untimely suspension for taking banned substances). The losing pitcher? Detroit's Justin Verlander. So, I guess, in this case, Bud Selig's decision to make the All-Star Game count makes some amount of sense, but just this one. Detroit's Comerica Park can be raucous, don't get us wrong, but this postseason there has been no group of fans louder than those at San Francisco's AT&T Park. Just going by stereotypes, you'd think that Detroit, the place that gave birth to Devil's Night, would be the louder than San Francisco, the place that gave birth to the Grateful Dead. Maybe it's something in the water. Advantage: Giants. ManagersGiants manager Bruce Bochy has had no room for error for most of the Playoffs. He's had to win six straight elimination games. To Bochy's credit, he made all the right moves, or at least ones that ended up working out, and guided his team into its second World Series in three years. Bochy's a fine manager, but he's not exactly the most fascinating fellow. Now, the Tigers' Jim Leyland is a chain-smoking gruffy manager who says stuff like "you can't chew yesterday's breakfast". He's like the manager from "Major League" delightfully come to life, the platonic pop culture idea of what a baseball skipper should be. Advantage: Tigers. Also, Leyland's like a good manager and stuff beyond looking the part. Twitter PresenceThe Tigers have the @PhilCokesBrain account and the #AustinJacksonStrikesOut hashtag, which are quite amusing. San Francisco Giants fans, however, have apparently been swaying the game with their trending Twitter hashtag mojo thanks to #RallyZito, #RallyVogey, #RallyCain and even #RallyEnchiladas. Advantage: Giants. A lot of meme-makers on the West Coast, apparently. Music It's time for the all-important final category: Which city has given us the best musical artists? This one was the tightest competition of them all. San Francisco has a great musical history: as the product of hippie parents I cannot deny the appeal of Santana or Jefferson Airplane, but Detroit gave us the MC5, the Stooges, Eminem, the White Stripes and so many others. Advantage: Detroit Rock City. Iggy Pop > everything else, even if the Stooges were technically formed in Ann Arbor.
World Series Prediction
Tigers in 6. Hey if there's any city that could use a redemptive sports win right now, it's Detroit.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook's shift to mobile would be 'fundamentally good' for the company as shares increase 20% Facebook's shares soared Wednesday after co-founder Mark Zuckerberg told analysts the shift to mobile would be "fundamentally good" for the company. Facebook's shares rose over 20% in early trading Wednesday to more than $23, the first time most investors had an opportunity to buy shares since Tuesday, when Facebook released its second set of results as a public company. The social network company has struggled since its disastrous initial public offering in May. Shares that launched at $38 crashed on the second day of trading and have hovered around $20 for weeks. On a conference call with analysts, Zuckerberg said Facebook's six-month old mobile ad business now accounted for 14% of advertising revenue, about $150m. The number of mobile monthly active users rose 61% to 604 million, the company said Wednesday. Mobile is the fastest growing way that people access the service and both the company and analysts have expressed concern that Facebook will struggle to make ads work on mobile devices. Zuckerberg told analysts: "I think our opportunity on mobile is the most misunderstood aspect of Facebook today," he said. Mobile sales helped Facebook's revenue rise 32% to $1.26bn in the quarter that ended September 30, slightly topping Wall Street's expectations. But despite the rising revenue, Facebook still made a loss of $59m as costs soared 64%. Citi Research upgraded the stock to buy Wednesday. "What investors have for the first time since the Facebook IPO is fundamentals acceleration with a reasonable valuation," analyst Mark Mahaney wrote in a note to clients. Facebook's IPO was marred by a series of errors, but news of its problems in mobile were probably the largest single factor in the dramatic share price fall. In regulatory filings the firm warned that mobile ad sales were negligible. The firm is also being sued by investors who claim Facebook unfairly warned some big investors about its mobile issues while withholding those fears from others.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow live US politics coverage as Donald Trump and Gloria Allred set to give press conferences related to the election
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Francisco Javier Solorio Jr, 39, was bitten in his upper torso in the attack off Surf Beach near Vandenberg air force base A shark killed a surfer Tuesday off a beach at Vandenberg air force base in California, following a summer of shark sightings along the state's central coast, authorities said. Francisco Javier Solorio Jr, 39, died in the attack off the coast of Surf Beach in Lompoc, the Santa Barbara County sheriff's department said in a statement. He was bitten in his upper torso. Solorio "had a friend who he was surfing with who saw the shark bite or hit the man," said sheriff's sergeant Mark A Williams. "His friend ended up swimming over and pulling him from the water where he received first aid." The friend started first aid while another surfer called for help, but Solorio was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene. The Air Force said Solorio was not affiliated with the base, which allows public access to some of its beaches. All beaches on the base's coastline will be closed for at least 72 hours, as a precaution, Colonel Nina Armagno said on Tuesday evening. The type of shark involved and other details were under investigation. It was the latest shark attack fatality at Surf Beach, about 150 miles (240km) north-west of Los Angeles. There were no shark warning signs posted at Surf Beach on Tuesday, said Lt Erik Raney, adding that beaches don't typically post such notices unless the location had a recent shark sighting. "We've had shark sightings up and down the Santa Barbara coastline pretty frequently recently," said Raney, adding that the sightings are well-publicized. Death by shark attack is rare. An average of 65 shark attacks occur each year around the world that typically result in two or three deaths, according to the Pew Environment Group.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hinna Khan, 17, warned in phone calls that she will be next owing to her participation in her parents' work to help women A young activist from the same area of Pakistan as Malala Yousafzai, the girl shot in the head by a Taliban gunman this month, has been warned in a threatening phone call that she will be next. Hinna Khan, a 17-year-old from Swat, was named during a call made to her mother's mobile phone two days after Malala, who spoke out against the Taliban, was attacked as she sat in a van with her classmates, in the town of Mingora. Hinna's father, Reyatullah Khan, said: "The Taliban have kidnapped me and tortured me in the past for promoting women's development, but now they are threatening the entire family." Khan has long publicly opposed the Taliban and in 2008 he gathered a "jirga" of locals to denounce the extremists for forcing schools to close down in Swat. Since 1999 he and his wife have worked through their own organisation to promote development and literacy programmes that support women. Although he has received threats for many years, he is now taking them far more seriously in the wake of the attack on Malala, who is now recovering in hospital in the UK. Two weeks before the attempt to kill the 14-year-old, Khan discovered someone had painted a red cross on the gate of the family house in Islamabad, where they have lived since fleeing Swat in 2007. "I removed it but someone just repainted it," he said. "Then after Malala was attacked we received telephone calls threatening that 'your daughter is next,' and 'we have already sent people to Islamabad to target her.'" The caller said the family were guilty of having "forgotten your culture". Ever since, the family have been restricting their movements and rarely venture out of the house. The Taliban – which have issued no public warning against the Khans – justified their attempt to kill Malala because she had campaigned for "secular" rule, rather than the form of government based on the movement's interpretation of Islamic law. Hinna has also been involved herself in her parent's work, organising demonstrations in Islamabad in 2008 calling for peace in Swat. At the time the valley was struggling to cope with a rising Taliban insurgency, later crushed by a major military operation mounted by the Pakistani army. The insurgents also took over the Khans' house in Swat, turning it into a Taliban "office" in early 2009. Reyatullah Khan said he had not received any help, despite appealing to the country's interior minister for protection. He said he was so concerned that he was thinking of joining relatives in Afghanistan – a substantially more dangerous place than the leafy suburban streets of Islamabad. "I will appeal to [the Afghan president] Hamid Karzai because in Pakistan the ministers and government are not sincere," he said. "In Afghanistan, the government is at least sincere to its people." Those Pakistanis who most oppose the Taliban have been disappointed that the attempted murder of Malala has not prompted another military crackdown against the Taliban, particularly in their sanctuaries in the tribal agency of north Waziristan. The US has long demanded such a move, and some commentators believe Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, has been anxious to mount a major operation before the onset of winter. But President Asif Ali Zardari has since said there was no national "consensus" for the army to tackle militants in the area.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Prime minister announces review of why Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute over sex abuse allegations The director of public prosecutions is to review the original police file sent to the Crown Prosecution Service alleging child abuse by Jimmy Savile. David Cameron told MPs during prime minister's questions on Wednesday that Keir Starmer will investigate why the CPS took the decision not to prosecute over allegations in 2009. Starmer has also asked to speak to the attorney general, Dominic Grieve, about whether the CPS should start referring Savile sex abuse cases to other relevant agencies, including social services, where the evidence is not deemed strong enough for a criminal prosecution. At the time the CPS advised the police that no further action should be taken because of lack of evidence against the BBC star, who was still alive at the time. Savile died in October 2011. Cameron told the house that the DPP had ordered a review of the evidence considered by the CPS in 2009 relating to indecent assault allegations against Savile from the 1970s. The evidence was submitted by Surrey police, which began an investigation in 2007. In a brief statement on the Savile scandal, he said he did not rule out any further inquiries into the BBC, hospitals and other establishments where Savile is said to have abused vulnerable children. "The director of public prosecutions has confirmed that his principal legal adviser will again review the papers from the time when a case was put to the CPS for prosecution," Cameron added. "The director of public prosecutions specifically is going to consider what more can be done to alert relevant authorities where there are concerns that a prosecution is not taken forward. "The government will do everything it can do, other institutions must do what they can do, to make sure that we learn the lesson of this and it can never happen again. "The most important thing is that the police investigation is properly resourced and is allowed to continue. I don't rule out further steps but we do now have independent investigations by the BBC, independent investigations into the NHS." The CPS received a file from Surrey police in 2009 after a complaint was made by a woman who said she had witnessed an indecent assault by Savile in the 1970s. In a statement earlier this week the CPS said it had confirmed in December 2011 that it concluded in 2009 prosecution would not be viable. Starmer said in a statement on Wednesday that a review of the files submitted by Surrey police in 2009 had already found "that the decisions taken at the time were the right decisions based on the information and evidence then available". However, he had asked his chief principal legal adviser, Alison Levitt, to consider the decisions out of "an abundance of caution" and had also asked to talk to the attorney general. "This is not a straightforward issue but I have said to the attorney general that I would like to discuss with him whether the CPS should adopt a policy of referring cases to other relevant agencies, such as social services, where an allegation is made but cannot be proceeded with for evidential reasons," Starmer said. He added that last week he had asked the chief crown prosecutor for the south-east, Roger Coe-Salazar, to review the files. "He has done so and he has assured me that the decisions taken at the time were the right decisions based on the information and evidence then available. Whilst it is sometimes possible to prosecute cases where the victim does not support a prosecution, there are obvious problems in proceeding with a case where the victim does not support a police investigation, where there is no forensic evidence and only very limited, or even in some instances no, witness evidence, particularly in relation to allegations which date back a number of years," said Starmer. He said the reviewing lawyer had concluded in 2009 that "in view of the fact that none of the victims were prepared to support any police action, there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction". "Out of an abundance of caution I have asked for the papers in the four cases to be provided to my principal legal adviser, Alison Levitt QC, forthwith so that she can consider the decisions made and advise me accordingly." • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 'I'm alive – pinch me', Gilberto Araújo tells stunned family and friends after being mistakenly identified in morgue If there's one surefire way to make sure your funeral is remembered, its turning up at it alive. That, at least, was the experience of Gilberto Araújo, a 41-year-old car-washer from Brazil, whose unexpected arrival at his own wake reportedly sparked terror and then delight among his family and friends. Araújo's family, from the town of Alagoinhas, about 70 miles from Salvador, had mistakenly identified a body in the local morgue as his and were mourning his death on Sunday night when the man they believed was in the coffin beside them showed up at the front door. "A friend told me there was a coffin and that I was inside it," he said. "I said, 'guys, I'm alive – pinch me,'" Araújo was quoted by the O Globo news website. His appearance prompted some people to faint and others to flee in panic. His mother, Maria Menezes, a shopkeeper, said: "It was a fright. I'm very happy because what mother has a son that they say is dead then turns up alive?" The mixup is reported to have stemmed from the fact that another car-washer in the town, who closely resembled Araújo, was murdered at the weekend, and police called Araújo's brother, José Marcos , to tell him they believed his brother was the dead man. The brother then went to the morgue and wrongly identified the body. "Police called my husband and told him that his brother had been killed and his body was at the morgue," Jose Marcos Araujo's wife, Ana Paula, told the UOL website. Police Inspector Roberto Lima said the confusion was "understandable", as Araújo and Genivaldo Santos Gama, the man later named as the real murder victim, looked so alike. "The two men closely resembled each other and both worked as car-washers," he said. Araújo said he had learned of the mistake from an acquaintance, who had come up to him in the street to tell him his family was setting off for his funeral. He had tried to tell them he was still alive by telephoning, he said, but his call was dismissed as a cruel prank. There seemed nothing for it but to turn up in person. "He went to his mother's home to let everyone know he was very much alive," said Lima.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Documents obtained by Greenpeace show officials controlling information about wildlife affected by the disaster A cache of newly uncovered documents from the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico – including gruesome photographs of a dead whale – are raising questions about the environmental cost of the disaster and the price tag the oil company will have to pay to set it right. Documents, obtained by the campaign group Greenpeace under freedom of information provisions and made available to the Guardian, offer a rare glimpse into how many whales came into close contact with the gushing BP well during the oil spill. They also show Obama administration officials tightly controlling information about whales and other wildlife caught up in the disaster. The plight of wildlife caught up in the oil spill – especially endangered species such as sea turtles and sperm whales – has enormous financial implications for BP. The oil company asked a judge in New Orleans this week to finalise its $7.8bn (£4.8bn) settlement for economic damages arising from the spill. But BP still faces claims from the federal government for environmental damages, and accounting for wildlife killed as a direct result of the spill – from dolphins to turtles to whales – will be critical to the final bill. "In the settlement with BP, an endangered species or any animal killed by the spill matters," said Kert Davies, research director of Greenpeace. That looming legal struggle was apparently already on the minds of officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) when crew aboard the research vessel, Pisces, spotted a dead sperm whale on the morning of 15 June 2010. The discovery was the first confirmed sighting of a dead whale since the blow-out on the Deepwater Horizon that April. The carcass, which was decomposed and had been fed on by sharks, was spotted about 77 miles south of the Deepwater Horizon oil site. Meanwhile, NOAA observers on another vessel at the well site that same day spotted five whales, including a juvenile, covered in oil. "Observers noticed that the young whale was covered in oil sheen," the detection report notes. "It is very possible that these adults were covered in the same oil as the juvenile whale was covered in as the water quality was very poor with iridescent sheens all over the surface." The detection report goes on to describe a large plume of smoke rising from the water, from the controlled burns used to stop the oil from reaching the shoreline. "Small brown globs of what appear to be oil and possibly oil dispersant infiltrate the water." There is no further indication in the email about what happened to the group of five whales. However, a map included in the email release shows a variety of marine life coming into close range of BP's broken well, including 16 sperm whales. The NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen would not respond to questions about the email. In contrast, the discovery of the decomposed carcass set off a flurry of emails – with repeated instructions from NOAA officials to crew aboard the Pisces not to release information or photographs. The crew were also directed to obtain samples from the whale to try to determine if it was killed as a result of the spill, and to mark the corpse. The gag order rankled with some aboard the Pisces, as an 16 June 2010 email from the ship's commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Jeremy Adams suggests. "Any chance I can give the green light to let folks share what we saw yesterday with loved ones ashore yet?" he wrote in the email. Twenty-four hours after the sighting he had heard, through the wife of another officer, of a crew member "posting something on their Facebook page to the effect that they saw a 'dead critter' yesterday but are being censored by NOAA from saying anything else ... followed by a lot of indignant comments from others." The attempt to shut out the media also sat uneasily with Greenpeace. NOAA did put out a press release about the dead whale. However, the release was edited and shortened in a way which appeared to minimise the effects of oil on whales. "The public has no idea what the fate of those animals is," Davies said. That information may never surface. There were believed to be about 1,200 sperm whale in the Gulf of Mexico at the time of the spill, making it one of the biggest populations in the world. However, scientists concede little is known about how whales respond to oil spills – even in an area as heavily mined as the Gulf of Mexico. Few whales strand on land, and it is practically impossible to carry out necropsies at sea. "We do know that oil spills do kill whales but we know very little about how lethal they are and what makes them lethal," said Hal Whitehead, cetacean research biologist at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. "The whales that are there or used to be there move around a fair amount so if they weren't actively avoiding the spill there is a good chance that quite a large proportion of them might have gone into it." NOAA scientists, working with Oregon State University, have been tracking a number of sperm whale in the Gulf of Mexico through satellite transmitters since the spill. "There isn't at least anything published that has clear linkages between sperm whale that got covered in oil and died in the same way," said Bruce Mates who heads the marine mammal institute at Oregon State. And with the one whale carcass recovered so far, scientists were not able to establish the definitive cause of death. "Scientists did take samples from the carcass, but because the animal was so badly decomposed the cause of death could not be determined," the NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen said in an email.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Documents obtained by Greenpeace show officials controlling information about wildlife affected by the disaster The images from the summer of 2010 were undoubtedly gruesome: the carcass of a young sperm whale, decayed and partially eaten by sharks, sighted at sea south of the Deepwater Horizon oil well. It was the first confirmed sighting of a dead whale since the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April that year – a time of huge public interest in the fate of whales, dolphins, sea turtles and other threatened animals – and yet US government officials supressed the first reports of the discovery and blocked all images until now. The photographs, along with a cache of emails obtained by the campaign group Greenpeace under freedom of information provisions and made available to the Guardian, offer a rare glimpse into how many whales came into close contact with the gushing BP well during the oil spill. They also show Obama administration officials tightly controlling information about whales and other wildlife caught up in the disaster. The plight of wildlife caught up in the oil spill – especially endangered species such as sea turtles and sperm whales – has enormous financial implications for BP. The oil company asked a judge in New Orleans this week to finalise its $7.8bn (£4.8bn) settlement for economic damages arising from the spill. But BP still faces claims from the federal government for environmental damages, and accounting for wildlife killed as a direct result of the spill – from dolphins to turtles to whales – will be critical to the final bill. "In the settlement with BP, an endangered species or any animal killed by the spill matters," said Kert Davies, research director of Greenpeace. That looming legal struggle was apparently already on the minds of officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) when crew aboard the research vessel, Pisces, spotted a dead sperm whale on the morning of 15 June 2010. The discovery was the first confirmed sighting of a dead whale since the blow-out on the Deepwater Horizon that April. The carcass, which was decomposed and had been fed on by sharks, was spotted about 77 miles south of the Deepwater Horizon oil site. Meanwhile, NOAA observers on another vessel at the well site that same day spotted five whales, including a juvenile, covered in oil. "Observers noticed that the young whale was covered in oil sheen," the detection report notes. "It is very possible that these adults were covered in the same oil as the juvenile whale was covered in as the water quality was very poor with iridescent sheens all over the surface." The detection report goes on to describe a large plume of smoke rising from the water, from the controlled burns used to stop the oil from reaching the shoreline. "Small brown globs of what appear to be oil and possibly oil dispersant infiltrate the water." There is no further indication in the email about what happened to the group of five whales. However, a map included in the email release shows a variety of marine life coming into close range of BP's broken well, including 16 sperm whales. The NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen would not respond to questions about the email. In contrast, the discovery of the decomposed carcass set off a flurry of emails – with repeated instructions from NOAA officials to crew aboard the Pisces not to release information or photographs. The crew were also directed to obtain samples from the whale to try to determine if it was killed as a result of the spill, and to mark the corpse. The gag order rankled with some aboard the Pisces, as an 16 June 2010 email from the ship's commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Jeremy Adams suggests. "Any chance I can give the green light to let folks share what we saw yesterday with loved ones ashore yet?" he wrote in the email. Twenty-four hours after the sighting he had heard, through the wife of another officer, of a crew member "posting something on their Facebook page to the effect that they saw a 'dead critter' yesterday but are being censored by NOAA from saying anything else ... followed by a lot of indignant comments from others." The attempt to shut out the media also sat uneasily with Greenpeace. NOAA did put out a press release about the dead whale. However, the release was edited and shortened in a way which appeared to minimise the effects of oil on whales. "The public has no idea what the fate of those animals is," Davies said. That information may never surface. There were believed to be about 1,200 sperm whale in the Gulf of Mexico at the time of the spill, making it one of the biggest populations in the world. However, scientists concede little is known about how whales respond to oil spills – even in an area as heavily mined as the Gulf of Mexico. Few whales strand on land, and it is practically impossible to carry out necropsies at sea. "We do know that oil spills do kill whales but we know very little about how lethal they are and what makes them lethal," said Hal Whitehead, cetacean research biologist at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. "The whales that are there or used to be there move around a fair amount so if they weren't actively avoiding the spill there is a good chance that quite a large proportion of them might have gone into it." NOAA scientists, working with Oregon State University, have been tracking a number of sperm whale in the Gulf of Mexico through satellite transmitters since the spill. "There isn't at least anything published that has clear linkages between sperm whale that got covered in oil and died in the same way," said Bruce Mates who heads the marine mammal institute at Oregon State. And with the one whale carcass recovered so far, scientists were not able to establish the definitive cause of death. "Scientists did take samples from the carcass, but because the animal was so badly decomposed the cause of death could not be determined," the NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen said in an email.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow the day's developments as ceasefire hopes fade amid continuing battles and Russia says Syrian rebels have acquired anti-aircraft missiles
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon tries out K-Pop repertoire in New York during visit by singer behind first Korean No 1 hit The UN secretary-general has to perform a variety of deft diplomatic manoeuvres in his day-to-day life, but none quite like the invisible horse trot. Ban Ki-Moon had a chance to smooth out any flaws in his K-Pop repertoire on Tuesday when he was visited at the United Nations by Psy, the rapper behind the global hit Gangnam Style. "I'm a bit jealous," Ban told reporters, as the pair joked about their shared nationality. "Until two days ago someone told me I am the most famous Korean in the world. Now I have to relinquish. I have no regrets." Psy, whose song mocks the lifestyles of the wealthy residents of the Seoul neighbourhood of Gangnam, added: "So now you have first and second famous Korean in the same building." The pair posed for the cameras with their hands in the now-familiar horseriding gesture made famous by the hit, which became the first South Korean song in history to go to No 1 in the UK pop charts. Ban even performed a few seconds of the riding motion alongside the 34-year-old singer before appearing to think the better of it. "I know that you are here to see me dance but don't worry – I cannot even imitate your movement," he said. The secretary-general was keen, though, to lavish praise on Psy, whose real name is Park Jae-sang. "We have tough negotiations in the United Nations. In such a case I was also thinking of playing Gangnam Style-dance so that everybody would stop and dance. Maybe you can bring UN style?" he said. Viewed more than 530m times on YouTube since it was released in mid-July, Gangnam Style has done its bit to unite nations around the world. Among the many tributes it has spawned are illegal flash mobs in Indonesia, mass prisoner workouts in the Philippines, and a co-ordinated cheerleading and marching band routine in Oregon. "I think the music can play a very important role. I hope that we can work together using your global reach … You have, I think, unlimited global reach," he told Psy. According to Reuters, he added: "You are so cool; I hope that you can end the global warming." Earlier on, Ban met Felix Baumgartner, who last week became the first supersonic skydiver after jumping 24 miles from a balloon. Ban hailed the Austrian as "the most courageous person in the world".
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon trots out new moves in New York during visit by singer behind first Korean No 1 hit The UN secretary general has to perform a variety of deft diplomatic manoeuvres in his day-to-day life, but none quite like the invisible horse trot. Ban Ki-Moon had a chance to smooth out any flaws in his K-Pop repertoire on Tuesday when he was visited at the United Nations by Psy, the rapper behind the global hit Gangnam Style. "I'm a bit jealous," Ban told reporters, as the pair joked about their shared nationality. "Until two days ago someone told me I am the most famous Korean in the world. Now I have to relinquish. I have no regrets." Psy, whose song mocks the lifestyles of the wealthy residents of the Seoul neighbourhood of Gangnam, added: "So now you have first and second famous Korean in the same building." The pair posed for the cameras with their hands in the now-familiar horseriding gesture made famous by the hit, which became the first South Korean song in history to go to No 1 in the UK pop charts. Ban even performed a few seconds of the riding motion alongside the 34-year-old singer before appearing to think the better of it. "I know that you are here to see me dance but don't worry – I cannot even imitate your movement," he said. The secretary general was keen, though, to lavish praise on Psy, whose real name is Park Jae-sang. "We have tough negotiations in the United Nations. In such a case I was also thinking of playing Gangnam Style-dance so that everybody would stop and dance. Maybe you can bring UN style?" he said. Viewed more than 530m times on YouTube since it was released in mid-July, Gangnam Style has done its bit to unite nations around the world. Among the many tributes it has spawned are illegal flashmobs in Indonesia, mass prisoner workouts in the Philippines, and a co-ordinated cheerleading and marching band routine in Oregon. "I think the music can play a very important role. I hope that we can work together using your global reach … You have, I think, unlimited global reach," he told Psy. According to Reuters, he added: "You are so cool; I hope that you can end the global warming." Earlier on, Ban met Felix Baumgartner, who last week became the first supersonic skydiver after jumping 24 miles from a balloon. Ban hailed the Austrian as "the most courageous person in the world".
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Anger in Greece as draft memorandum emerges, showing plans for hefty job cuts and tax rises
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow the day's developments international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi announced that the Syrian government has agreed to a ceasefire
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Airports to close and curfews in major towns as late-season storm buffets Caribbean island with rain and strong winds Tropical storm Sandy is expected to become a hurricane as it approaches the south coast of Jamaica, the US National Hurricane Centre said, prompting authorities to close schools and prepare shelters to take in residents of flood-prone areas. Howling winds and driving rain buffeted the Caribbean island on Wednesday and a hurricane warning was in effect for both Jamaica and Cuba, although forecasters said Sandy was expected to be only a weak category one hurricane, with winds topping out at 80mph (128km/h). Computer models showed Sandy was on a projected path that would cut across the middle of Jamaica near the capital, Kingston, and the popular north coast resort of Ocho Rios, before passing over eastern Cuba and the Bahamas. Jamaica's international airports prepared to close, cruise ships changed their itineraries and police ordered 48-hour curfews in major towns to keep people off the streets and deter looting as the late-season storm was expected to rake the island from south to north from midday. The 18th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season was forecast to pass over or near Jamaica and then spin on into eastern Cuba by Wednesday evening. Across Jamaica, curfews were imposed in rough slums and business centres, including the New Kingston financial district and the resort town of Montego Bay. To deter looters and other criminals, Deputy Police Commissioner Glenmore Hinds warned police would "react swiftly to protect life and property". Outside its placid tourist resorts, the island has long struggled with high crime and gang violence. Dangerous flash floods and mudslides set off by Sandy were a threat for the island of roughly 2.7 million inhabitants, Jamaica's meteorological service said. In the hilly community of Kintyre, near Kingston, resident Sharon Gayle expected to lose the town's bridge over the Hope River, which washed away a section of the span three weeks ago during a heavy downpour. "We've gotten cut off here a whole heap of times. But with a big nasty hurricane on the way, I'm really nervous. We're trying not to show it in front of the children though," she said, huddling under a sopping towel as she stared at the rising river. The storm was predicted to drop as much as 10ins (25cm) of rain, especially over central and eastern parts of Jamaica, the country's meteorological service said. Some isolated spots could see as much as 20ins (50cm), according to US forecasters. Battering waves and a strong storm surge were also forecast. Kingston's airport was set to close at 7am EDT (11am GMT) on Wednesday, while Montego Bay's airport planned to shut at 9am. Royal Caribbean Cruises announced its Allure of the Seas cruise ship would not stop at Jamaica's northern Falmouth terminal on Wednesday and instead remain at sea. In Cuba, authorities issued a hurricane watch for several provinces and there were intermittent rains over Haiti, where a tropical storm warning was in effect. A tropical storm watch was also posted for parts of the Bahamas, where the storm was predicted to pass on Thursday. Although Florida was not expected to receive any direct impact from Sandy, Brian Koon, director of the state's emergency management division, said residents should take precautions to keep themselves safe from indirect impacts, including rip currents. Early on Wednesday, Sandy had maximum sustained winds of 65mph (105km/h) and was centred 160 miles (260km) south of Kingston. It was moving north-northeast at 10mph (17km/h).
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Anger in Greece as draft memorandum emerges, showing plans for hefty job cuts and tax rises. German proposal for closer control of Greek finances also causes alarm
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Anger in Greece as draft memorandum emerges, showing plans for hefty job cuts and tax rises. German proposal for closer control of Greek finances also causes alarm
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