|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Death toll at 58 and millions still without power as recovery begins from devastating storm that cost billions of damage America's devastated north-east began to struggle to life in the wake of superstorm Sandy even as millions of people remained without power and the US military continued to launch rescue missions to people trapped by floodwaters. The historic storm killed at least 58 people in the US and has left more than 8 million people without power. New Jersey bore the brunt of the storm and in the city of Hoboken – just across the Hudson river from New York – the US National Guard arrived to help evacuate up to 20,000 people stuck in their homes. Sandy is now thought to have caused tens of billions of dollars of damage with a unique combination of high winds, a massive flood surge and even a blizzard in mountainous areas. Its cone of impact stretched from North Carolina to Canada and it has been described by many as the worst ever to hit the region. In New York, there was good news with the restoration of limited commuter rail transport into and out of city and the announcement that parts of the subway system will start again on Thursday morning. The return of public transport will go some way to easing gigantic traffic jams that have plagued the city all day as people used their cars to enter Manhattan. But it was New Jersey that has suffered the worst of the storm, and on Wednesday President Barack Obama was visiting the state in the company of its Republican governor Chris Christie. Sandy had pummelled its way through the state's famous New Jersey shore, swamping seaside towns, ripping away boardwalks, destroying beaches and flooding the major resort of Atlantic City. In Hoboken, uniformed soldiers in trucks brought in pumps, food and medical supplies amid flood waters contaminated with sewage and potentially lethal live power lines. Hoboken officials warned residents not to go outside but instead await help. Hoboken's Facebook page turned into a forum for pleas for aid. One woman, Keri O'Connor Robinson, wrote: "Please rescue my sister. She is seven months pregnant and she lives at 517 Jackson Street, on the second floor. We have not heard from her since Monday." Obama and New Jersey governor Chris Christie, usually a staunch supporter of Republican challenger Mitt Romney, toured hard hit parts of the state. "We have suffered losses and this the worst storm that I have seen in my lifetime," Christie said. "We will get up and get this thing rebuilt and put back together." Christie and Obama also traded praise, hailing each other's leadership in the crisis and creating a powerful image of bi-partisan co-operation that could ripple out into the presidential election. Obama vowed that the federal government would do everything it could to
help. "We are going to have a lot of work to do," he said. "We will not quit until this is done." In New York in many ways, it was a strange tale of two cities. In upper Manhattan and many parts of the outer boroughs, life was steadily returning to normal. Businesses, shops and restaurants were open and thronged with customers and Broadway shows re-opened around Times Square. The steadily returning transport network will only speed up that picture of normalcy. However, elsewhere in the city the picture was very different. In lower Manhattan, where there is no power, vehicles negotiated streets without traffic lights and many residents left to stay with friends in other parts of the city. Usually packed and busy neighbourhoods like fashionable Soho and the East Village were relatively quiet and streets were lined with shuttered businesses. There was still little indication of when exactly power will return to the area. In all, about 600,000 New Yorkers were without power. Cell phone service, too, was spotty, hampering the efforts of people to get in touch with relatives and friends and tell them that they were all right. That was true, too, of many areas of Long Island, where hundreds of thousands of people remained without power. If they could, they headed off to other areas that had power or had moved out ahead of the storm. Carol Goleb, of Oceanside, Long Island, took shelter with her parents in Queens, New York. Goleb, said she was not going to take a chance that Sandy would be like last year's hurricane Irene, which largely spared the city. Unfortunately, many of her neighbours did not make the same decision. Ninety percent of Long Island residents are thought to be without power. "A lot of them thought it was going to be another Irene," Goleb said. But as many areas struggled it was, however, a different picture on Wall Street. The New York stock exchange reopened on Wednesday morning after two days of having trading suspended. Mayor Michael Bloomberg rang the opening bell at 9.30am, right on schedule, as stock traders cheered from trading floor below. The market even rose as trading began adding 74 points to 13,182 shortly after opening. "We've got to keep rebuilding," Bloomberg told reporters as he walked through the exchange. Meanwhile, the neighbourhood of Breezy Point in Queens was struggling with the aftermath of a devastating fire that swept through at least 111 homes as Sandy's flood waters rose through the streets. Elsewhere, in areas like Staten Island and Red Hook, which have extensive waterfronts, residents struggled to clear debris, stranded boats dumped on land and pools of standing water. In Coney Island, several feet of sand had been dumped by floodwaters several blocks inland. Across the stricken region the Red Cross was organising teams of volunteers. The organisation asked for people aged over 16 and fit enough to carry at least 40lbs to step forward to work twelve-hour shifts helping people in need and cleaning up the mess. It also appealed for donations: an appeal that was repeated by both Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney. For almost two days Sandy has derailed normal campaigning for next week's presidential election. But on Wednesday there were signs of things getting back to the normal cut and thrust of the battle for the White House. Through the storm top Obama surrogates, like former president Bill Clinton and vice-president Joe Biden, have been campaigning on Obama's behalf seeking to fend off Romney's challenge. The Romney campaign, after cancelling numerous events as the storm hit, was back to full throttle. On Wednesday, Romney attended three full blown campaign events in the key swing state of Florida. He returned to his stump speech hammering away at Obama's first term record and saying the county needed a change at the top. However, he deliberately did not mention the president by name in order to not appear too negative at a time of national crisis. "I believe this is the year for us to take a different course. I would bring real change and real reform. I don't just talk about change, I actually have a plan to execute change," Romney said in Tampa.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Both public and independent purchasing managers' indexes show signs of recovery in world's second-largest economy China's economy is finally regaining some traction, official and private sector factory surveys showed on Thursday, although they pointed to a sluggish recovery with the latter recording its 12th straight month of slowing growth. The National Bureau of Statistics reported the official October Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 50.2 from 49.8 in September. The surveys add to other signs of economic revival in October after domestic credit curbs and weak demand from overseas markets pushed down third-quarter growth to its lowest rate since the depths of the global financial crisis.
It marked the first reading above 50 – which divides a pick-up in activity from a slowdown – since July and backed the view that growth could be picking up in the world's second-largest economy. The HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 49.5 in October from 47.9 in September. The reading was the highest since February, and deviated more than usual from the October flash, or preliminary, reading of 49.1 released last week. "October's final PMI rose to an eight-month high, implying that China's industrial activity continues to bottom out following a modest pick-up last month," wrote HSBC economist Hongbin Qu in a statement accompanying the survey. "This is mainly driven by the increase of new orders, thanks to the filtering-through of the earlier easing measures, while exports outlook remains challenging." Recent data has shown signs that the economy stabilised in September and the factory surveys are one of the first indications it began perking up in October. Economic activity in the fourth quarter is widely expected to pick up after annual growth slowed to 7.4% in the third quarter. That would put it on track to beat the government target of full-year growth of 7.5% or above.
The private HSBC PMI captures views mainly of smaller, export-oriented firms in China's vast factory sector. The employment sub-index rose to its highest level in eight months, but it remained below 50. China has so far avoided the massive job losses or urban unrest feared by the ruling Communist party, which has seen a year of political drama as factions ready for a once-in-a-decade leadership transfer in November. After monetary loosening moves earlier in the year, credit supply in China has increased while inflation has stayed low, allowing planners to relax and hold off on further measures. Some analysts expect additional moves after the 18th party congress in November to present the new leadership with an economic boost.
The central bank injected a record amount of cash this week via open market operations. That should enable banks to lend more to support the economy.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | BBC star left a reported £4.3m and move by trustee NatWest Bank appears to be in anticipation of legal claims by victims The estate of Jimmy Savile, believed to be worth £4.3m, has been frozen in response to the mounting sexual abuse claims against the late BBC television and radio star.
NatWest Bank, which is acting as the Savile's will executor and trustee, said the distribution of his assets had been brought to a halt because of the allegations.
NatWest said in a statement: "Given the claims raised, distribution of the estate has been put on hold."
Savile's will was written in 2006 and bequeaths his savings and other assets to 26 separate beneficiaries, according to the Financial Times (FT).
The newspaper said it had obtained a copy of the document, which instructed that £20,000 in cash was to be shared between 20 of the celebrity's friends, family and neighbours, with a further £600,000 to be put into a trust fund and the interest shared between eight people.
The remainder – just under £3.7 million before expenses – was to be held by NatWest on behalf of the Jimmy Savile Charitable Trust, according to the FT.
Savile's intended individual beneficiaries included the trustees of both his charities and existing and former employees of Leeds general infirmary and Broadmoor hospital, the newspaper said. Police are investigating claims that the star, who died in October 2011, sexually assaulted individuals at both those NHS sites.
Savile's estate was previously put on hold in July after a woman claimed to be his illegitimate daughter, the FT said. It is believed the latest freeze may be in anticipation of legal claims for damages by Savile's alleged victims. Scotland Yard is leading a national investigation into the television and radio star's activities. He is believed to have been one of the UK's most prolific abusers, with about 300 possible victims.
Detectives are following 400 lines of inquiry as part of the investigation while the BBC has launched an inquiry into the culture and practices at the corporation in the era of Savile's alleged sexual abuse.
It is also looking at the decision-making process that led Newsnight to shelve an investigation into Savile's activities.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | British bank suffers another hit to its battered reputation as it confronts huge costs for alleged US energy market manipulation Barclays took another major hit to its already bruised reputation last night when a US regulator threatened the bank with a record $470m (£290m) penalty for allegations that it attempted to manipulate the US electricity market. After the London market had closed, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced the scale of the fine – $435m, plus a $35m order to disgorge alleged profits made by the bank – for the alleged offences which are supposed to have taken place between 2006 and 2008. Barclays had warned earlier in the day that it faced a potential penalty for the alleged movement of Californian electricity prices when it reported that it had made a loss in the third quarter of 2008. The bank's new chief executive, Antony Jenkins, said the bank would defend any proposed penalty by the regulator, which has given the bank 30 days to respond and prove why it should not be fined. The Washington-based regulator is also proposing fines on four individuals who worked for Barclays at the time. In April the Ferc had warned it was investigating the bank and the four individuals for allegedly buying and selling electricity in big enough quantities to affect the price of complex derivative positions. The four traders – Daniel Brin, Scott Connelly, Karen Levine and Ryan Smith – also have 30 days to prove why they should not face civil penalties after the regulator said the actions had led to losses of around $140m for California and other US states. The regulator, given extra powers after the Enron trading scandal, alleged that traders had "propped up" the market. The fresh embarrassment for Barclays comes barely three months after Bob Diamond resigned as chief executive in the wake of another record fine, this time for manipulation of the key benchmark interest rate, Libor. The allegations from the Ferc, which shed some light on the complexities of energy trading, single out four locations – Columbia, Palo Verde, South Path 15 and North Path 15 – that were said to have seen transactions that benefited the bank's positions on the IntercontinentalExchange. Unlike the Libor case where Barclays agreed to settle the allegations, the bank now appears to be preparing to put a case in the show-cause order issued late last night. If the fine is imposed by the regulator, it would be the largest it has ever levied, and be regarded as evidence that the Ferc is attempting to get tough on attempts to manipulate energy prices. Other banks facing penalties include JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank. The order does not put Barclays side of the argument but accuses the bank of a "coordinated scheme" to manipulate prices in electricity prices and comes as the bank's new chairman Sir David Walker takes over the key boardroom role today.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Death toll at 58 and millions still without power as recovery begins from devastating storm that cost billions of damage America's devastated north-east began to struggle to life in the wake of superstorm Sandy even as millions of people remained without power and the US military continued to launch rescue missions to people trapped by floodwaters. The historic storm killed at least 58 people in the US and has left more than 8 million people without power. New Jersey bore the brunt of the storm and in the city of Hoboken – just across the Hudson river from New York – the US National Guard arrived to help evacuate up to 20,000 people stuck in their homes. Sandy is now thought to have caused tens of billions of dollars of damage with a unique combination of high winds, a massive flood surge and even a blizzard in mountainous areas. Its cone of impact stretched from North Carolina to Canada and it has been described by many as the worst ever to hit the region. In New York, there was good news with the restoration of limited commuter rail transport into and out of city and the announcement that parts of the subway system will start again on Thursday morning. The return of public transport will go some way to easing gigantic traffic jams that have plagued the city all day as people used their cars to enter Manhattan. But it was New Jersey that has suffered the worst of the storm, and on Wednesday President Barack Obama was visiting the state in the company of its Republican governor Chris Christie. Sandy had pummelled its way through the state's famous New Jersey shore, swamping seaside towns, ripping away boardwalks, destroying beaches and flooding the major resort of Atlantic City. In Hoboken, uniformed soldiers in trucks brought in pumps, food and medical supplies amid flood waters contaminated with sewage and potentially lethal live power lines. Hoboken officials warned residents not to go outside but instead await help. Hoboken's Facebook page turned into a forum for pleas for aid. One woman, Keri O'Connor Robinson, wrote: "Please rescue my sister. She is seven months pregnant and she lives at 517 Jackson Street, on the second floor. We have not heard from her since Monday." Obama and New Jersey governor Chris Christie, usually a staunch supporter of Republican challenger Mitt Romney, toured hard hit parts of the state. "We have suffered losses and this the worst storm that I have seen in my lifetime," Christie said. "We will get up and get this thing rebuilt and put back together." Christie and Obama also traded praise, hailing each other's leadership in the crisis and creating a powerful image of bi-partisan co-operation that could ripple out into the presidential election. Obama vowed that the federal government would do everything it could to
help. "We are going to have a lot of work to do," he said. "We will not quit until this is done." In New York in many ways, it was a strange tale of two cities. In upper Manhattan and many parts of the outer boroughs, life was steadily returning to normal. Businesses, shops and restaurants were open and thronged with customers and Broadway shows re-opened around Times Square. The steadily returning transport network will only speed up that picture of normalcy. However, elsewhere in the city the picture was very different. In lower Manhattan, where there is no power, vehicles negotiated streets without traffic lights and many residents left to stay with friends in other parts of the city. Usually packed and busy neighbourhoods like fashionable Soho and the East Village were relatively quiet and streets were lined with shuttered businesses. There was still little indication of when exactly power will return to the area. In all, about 600,000 New Yorkers were without power. Cell phone service, too, was spotty, hampering the efforts of people to get in touch with relatives and friends and tell them that they were all right. That was true, too, of many areas of Long Island, where hundreds of thousands of people remained without power. If they could, they headed off to other areas that had power or had moved out ahead of the storm. Carol Goleb, of Oceanside, Long Island, took shelter with her parents in Queens, New York. Goleb, said she was not going to take a chance that Sandy would be like last year's hurricane Irene, which largely spared the city. Unfortunately, many of her neighbours did not make the same decision. Ninety percent of Long Island residents are thought to be without power. "A lot of them thought it was going to be another Irene," Goleb said. But as many areas struggled it was, however, a different picture on Wall Street. The New York stock exchange reopened on Wednesday morning after two days of having trading suspended. Mayor Michael Bloomberg rang the opening bell at 9.30am, right on schedule, as stock traders cheered from trading floor below. The market even rose as trading began adding 74 points to 13,182 shortly after opening. "We've got to keep rebuilding," Bloomberg told reporters as he walked through the exchange. Meanwhile, the neighbourhood of Breezy Point in Queens was struggling with the aftermath of a devastating fire that swept through at least 111 homes as Sandy's flood waters rose through the streets. Elsewhere, in areas like Staten Island and Red Hook, which have extensive waterfronts, residents struggled to clear debris, stranded boats dumped on land and pools of standing water. In Coney Island, several feet of sand had been dumped by floodwaters several blocks inland. Across the stricken region the Red Cross was organising teams of volunteers. The organisation asked for people aged over 16 and fit enough to carry at least 40lbs to step forward to work twelve-hour shifts helping people in need and cleaning up the mess. It also appealed for donations: an appeal that was repeated by both Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney. For almost two days Sandy has derailed normal campaigning for next week's presidential election. But on Wednesday there were signs of things getting back to the normal cut and thrust of the battle for the White House. Through the storm top Obama surrogates, like former president Bill Clinton and vice-president Joe Biden, have been campaigning on Obama's behalf seeking to fend off Romney's challenge. The Romney campaign, after cancelling numerous events as the storm hit, was back to full throttle. On Wednesday, Romney attended three full blown campaign events in the key swing state of Florida. He returned to his stump speech hammering away at Obama's first term record and saying the county needed a change at the top. However, he deliberately did not mention the president by name in order to not appear too negative at a time of national crisis. "I believe this is the year for us to take a different course. I would bring real change and real reform. I don't just talk about change, I actually have a plan to execute change," Romney said in Tampa.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | President flies over Jersey shore with governor Chris Christie as Mitt Romney attempts difficult political balancing act in Florida It is the image that could end up being seen as the defining moment of the the 2012 White House race. Television cameras showed Barack Obama, aboard the presidential helicopter Marine One, flying over the Jersey shore, seeing at first hand the devastation left by superstorm Sandy. Over a thousand miles away, his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, was back on the campaign trail in Florida, trying to balance his desire to make up for time lost while trying to avoid accusations of a premature return. The television networks picked up on the contrast, splitting their screens to show one in presidential mode, seemingly above politics, and the other back on the stump, making partisan points in a time of crisis. The news channels stayed with Obama almost throughout the day as he witnessed the destruction and talked with officials and victims, offering sympathy and promising help. On his flight over New Jersey, Obama saw a string of towns along the coast, the worst hit of which is Seaside Heights. From the air, he could see houses flattened, roads covered in sand or water, a carnival and large pier that looked as if large bites had been taken out of them, and the boardwalk gone except for lonely posts here and there, according to a White House pooled report. It is not just the emotion that is helping Obama. He is being given a boost by an unexpected source, the popular governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, who joined him in Atlantic City for the helicopter tour. Christie is not only a Republican but one of Romney's highest-profile backers. Republicans are still trying to work out how to respond to Christie lavishly praising Obama, less than a week before the election. Christie, resisting calls from some Republicans to get in a dig at Obama during the visit, went out his way instead to thank him again. Obama and Christie stood together at a press conference amid the debris in Brigantine, devastated tourist resort, at the end of his New Jersey tour. Christie praised Obama for his speedy response to the crisis and Obama returned the favour, describing the governor as having put his heart and soul into helping the state bounce back. Obama identified New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and West Virginia as the areas worst hit. Although Obama tried to avoid saying anything political, he nonetheless made the case for federal intervention, in particular the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has been overseeing the rescue and recovery operation. Romney last year proposed cutting back Fema. Referring to Fema, Obama said that "because of some good preparation the loss of life was kept lower than it could have been". To emphasise the point, he suggested that the military and other federal assets could be used to help restore transport. "The federal government will be working as closely as possible with state and local officials and we will not quit until this is done," Obama said. With the storm still raw, few politicians or commentators are prepared yet to discuss publicly the impact of Sandy on the White House race. But in private, some, even Republicans, will admit that Obama is the fortunate beneficiary of this act of nature. Roger Simon, a columnist on Politico, is one of the few to go public, writing that: "Hurricane Sandy has given Barack Obama a lift beneath his wings." He said that the disaster and his "shrewd calculation" to stop campaigning in order to supervise the relief effort has provide him with the one thing he had needed for weeks: the opportunity to look presidential. This week had supposed to be Romney's big push, building on the momentum that started with his surprise debate victory over Obama in Denver on October 3. Instead, he has been largely sidelined by Sandy. Having seen his campaign schedule wrecked on Sunday and Monday, and having been forced to suspend it on Tuesday, even Romney return failed to excite the media. He was only a few sentences into a speech in Florida when one of the television networks subjected him to the indignity of cutting him off mid-sentence. Obama's team knows that Obama is benefiting from the attention but are
careful to avoid acknowledging it. The White House spokesman, Jay Carney, was asked by a reporter on a flight to New Jersey if Obama was sending a political message by visiting the state. Carney vigorously denied it. "This is a time to focus on what was a devastating storm and the terrible aftermath of that storm.," Carney said. "New Jersey was by many measures the hardest-hit state. I believe that's correct. It is entirely appropriate for the president to visit New Jersey and receive updates on the efforts there to recover and to view first-hand the damage inflicted by Sandy. This is not a time for politics." The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, had not invited Obama to the city, but Carney insisted that was because the two had agreed that a visit to lower Manhattan would have tied up resources needed for helping to restore transport links and power. Before leaving for New Jersey, Obama phoned doctors and nurses in New York to thank them for their bravery during the storm and helping to evacuate 200 patients. Against that backdrop, it was an awkward balancing act for Romney on his return to the campaign trail. He had to avoid being too aggressively partisan in time of crisis. But he could not completely hold back, saying that unlike Obama, he does not "just talk about change — I actually have a plan to execute change and make it happen." Screens on either side of Romney urged donations to the Red Cross. He also asked people if they had a spare dollar, to send it in. "We love all of our fellow citizens, we come together in times like this and we want to make sure they have a speedy recovery," Romney said. But he could not resist making a political point too. "People coming together is also what I believe will happen on November 7," he said, suggesting that the public would rally round behind him after he wins the November 6 election. One fact that the Romney campaign can hang on to is that the storm has so far not had a major impact on the swing states. Both New York and New Jersey are solidly Democratic, at least in White House races, and while there is sympathy for the victims, New York in particular is viewed in the midwest as Gomorrah. It is the second time in months that weather has disrupted Romney's campaign. A hurricane forced him to abandon the opening day of the Republican convention in Tampa, meant to introduce him to the American people and showcase his policies. The convention never quite recovered from the disruption. In spite of the lost days, his campaign team expressed confidence that Romney will win on Tuesday, pointing to polls showing him with leads in key states. Obama's chief campaign adviser, David Axelrod, in a phone-conference with reporters, described the Republicans as delusional and suggested the polls they were quoting were unreliable. He said he was hesitant to talk about the election in terms of the impact of the storm given that 50 people had died and millions of dollars worth of damage. Having said that, he admitted: "The only impact I would suggest is that it tended to freeze the race because people are focused on the storm." Obama will return to the campaign trail Thursday, making up for lost time with a race across three states: Wisconsin, Nevada and Colorado. Polls show the race remains tight. The Obama campaign claims it is tied or ahead in all eight swing states and is building a strong firewall, having a large advantage among those voting early. The Republicans say that their supporters traditionally turn out in larger numbers on election day and this will eliminate the Democratic early voting advantage.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Displaced Malians fear for the future as divisions deepen and more citizens pick up arms to defend their homeland Until violence erupted in northern Mali, the Hotel Via Via had been on the verge of expansion, scooping up tourists and business travellers who not long ago congregated in Mopti – a bustling gateway between the north and south, surrounded by the water of the Niger and Bani rivers. Since al-Qaida-linked groups seized control of large swaths of the north of the country, leaving Mopti on the frontline between the government-controlled south and the Islamist-controlled north, outside visitors have vanished, and so have the expansion plans. Instead, the hotel's half-built wings provide a discreet location for the Ganda Koya, a militia whose name means "son of the nation" in the local Sonrai language. As dusk settled over the hotel, a group of the militia scuttled between the building and a makeshift camp across the road where many rent cheap accommodation. One of them, Fatou Sissiko – a pretty, 18-year-old girl wearing a low-cut sleeveless vest and African print skirt – held a friend's baby girl on her arm as she talked quietly and reluctantly about the atrocities she witnessed in her home town, Gao, after it was taken over by the Islamist group the Movement for Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao) in March. "I left Gao because I want to fight to liberate the city," she said. "I hated living under the Mujao. They are dangerous people, they don't fear death. They killed many innocent people, I saw it with my own eyes. They destroyed my school. Our parents send us money so that we can stay in Mopti and learn to fight – they support what we are doing." Sissiko is one of thousands of young people who have grown frustrated at the failure of the Mali government – which was toppled by a coup on 22 March and has been replaced by a widely despised interim regime – to protect its citizens in the north. Despite a United Nations security council resolution earlier this month opening the door to military intervention to end al-Qaida's hold over the northern region, residents have continued to flee. An estimated 35,000 internally displaced people, of whom 10,000 are living in official camps, have arrived in the Mopti region alone since the government lost control of northern Mali, one security source told the Guardian. Many, like Sissiko, have joined militias, prompting fears that the ranks of independent trained and armed northerners could create further problems for the country. Military action – which an official source insists is being pursued alongside the possibility of negotiations – is likely to begin in the new year. But civilian authorities in Mopti are already gearing up for war in the north, and are preparing emergency plans to merge the police, gendarmerie, national guard and emergency services. "Militia members are in their thousands, and their numbers are multiplying," said the source. "I fear the impact of their existence on the country – they are regional and ethnocentric organisations that can only further divide Mali. "If people want to liberate the north they should integrate into the national forces, otherwise it risks creating a whole new problem when this war is over." Despite reports that the ranks of the Islamist groups – Mujao in Gao, Ansar Dine in Kidal, and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in Timbuktu – are filled by insurgents from neighbouring Algeria and Mauritania, people from those towns say that their numbers have been bolstered by Malians who have joined the groups as a means of survival. In a refugee camp next door to the Via Via, a slender man wearing overalls sits slumped against the wall on a low bench. The makeshift camp is another abandoned hotel, this one built as cheap overnight accommodation for the drivers who once accompanied their affluent employers on visits to Mopti. The long, single-storey buildings are crowded with scores of half-dressed children, women pounding food for the evening meal, and tents bearing the Swiss Red Cross logo. Oumar Cissé, 42, was a motorbike mechanic in Douanza – a town in the Mopti region currently controlled by the Mujao – when Islamists, including people he grew up with, began terrorising the local people. "Ordinary people I have known all my life, who I used to sit down and drink tea with, joined the Islamists and killed their own neighbours," said Cissé. "I cannot join them – I just want to live a normal life and educate my children. I fled here with my two wives and 11 children." Cissé, a Bella – the ethnic name used for black Tuaregs – said conditions in the camp were almost unbearable. He is one of the minority of internally displaced people living in official government accommodation, which he said was heavily overcrowded. "Now my sisters, who are teachers, have also joined us [in Mopti] because the Mujao have closed all the schools in Douanza – they don't believe in western education. During the rainy season we were 15 people sleeping in one room. We had to take it in turns to stand up at night." The refugees said they welcomed plans for a military intervention to reclaim the north, currently being drawn up in the capital city, Bamako, by the Mali government, the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union, with other international support from the European Union and the US. "I am a simple man, I don't know about the details of who should do what; all I know is that I want to go home and return to my normal life, and if we do not have outside help this is not going to happen," said Cissé. A security source, who asked not to be named, said that there were concerns that Mopti – only 30 miles (50km) from the region where al-Qaida-linked groups have held power since March – would be destabilised by the absence of the armed forces, which have a major base in the city. There are also fears that Islamist sleeper cells in Mopti and other southern cities have the capability to launch terrorist attacks.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | While the confusion and camaraderie of lower Manhattan is like the days after 9/11, the mood remains pleasant. So far On the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Wednesday, 36 hours after the storm, New York seems in full swing. Booksellers are back out on Columbus Avenue, the movie theaters are open, the nail salons are full. The New York City Marathon – which passes through the Upper East Side and Central Park – will go ahead on Sunday, because nobody has anything better to do than clean up millions of paper cups trampled underfoot by runners blocking the avenues. But a few miles south, it's another city. There is no power anywhere in lower Manhattan, cellphone service is spotty, and many buildings have no water or heat. Residents who'd planned for a short blackout, as happened here for one day in 2003, are facing days without power – and, as a consequence, without food or supplies. Downtowners are streaming north to buy groceries or charge their phones, or else to work remotely when they can't do so from home. Outside the Ace Hotel, a few blocks north of the electricity cutoff point, people were huddled together at a station to recharge their devices, and in one coffee shop on Amsterdam Avenue no fewer than 20 Wi-Fi refugees were hunched over laptops. The gyms have been overloaded with downtowners taking showers, which has generated a strange economic divide: the tony Equinox chain sent out an email telling clients that no guests were allowed, while the less pricy New York Sports Club has swung open its doors to one and all. Herman Luk, who works at a startup tech company, was coming up Sixth Avenue from his apartment in Tribeca, where he lives on an upper floor of a high-rise. "Water ran out yesterday morning," he explained, "and the emergency lights in the building died out. It's pitch black in the stairwell." He and his girlfriend made only moderate preparations; they filled their bathtub with water and bought a few supplies, but after last year's overhyped Hurricane Irene they decided not to stockpile. Now, Luk was coming uptown to buy provisions – everything near him is closed. "Uptown it's like it never happened, just like Irene," he said. "Downtown, with no power and no water, you feel like you're living in the south in hurricane season – except you live 14 floors up." Luk needed more than an hour to get uptown, first on a free bus and then on foot, and no wonder: the roads are choked with Bangkok-style traffic. On an average weekday the New York subway system logs 5.3m rides; push all of those onto the streets and this is what you get. Yellow cabs are permitted to take multiple fares, as they have during previous transit strikes, and thousands of interloping gypsy cabs are in the mix as well. But it takes ages to get anywhere, and even a bike won't help much; the avenues of midtown are glorified parking lots, and matters aren't helped by the closure of 57th Street, home to the half-destroyed crane alongside the most expensive residential project in town. You might as well walk. At the Museum of Modern Art, a queue of stir-crazy tourists snaked all the way through the lobby, out the front door, and halfway down 53rd Street. But the New Museum, down on the Bowery, is shut, while in Chelsea, home to the city's leading commercial art galleries, power remains out and flooding has destroyed untold millions of dollars in paintings and sculpture. The Metropolitan Opera is going back on tonight; Off-Broadway is dark for the foreseeable future. The big department stores along 5th Avenue are open, and doing a fair bit of business; the boutiques of Soho and Nolita are shuttered. The cutoff for electricity, at least on the west side, is 25th Street. At Seventh Avenue the stationery store on the north side of 25th is open for business, while the grocery store on the south side is shuttered, its inventory rotting away. Some of the busiest sites in the city are the delis and bodegas one or two blocks north of the power divide; hundreds and hundreds of downtowners stop at the first open business they see for coffee and the New York's traditional express breakfast of scrambled eggs on a bagel. The contrast is even starker when the sun goes down. "Last night, it looks like an apocalypse happened," said Stephanie Lee, an attorney who lives in Stuyvesant Town, the massive residential development on the East River. The buildings there took on three feet of water; there's now no electricity, no heat, no internet access, and only intermittent water. She was headed back to her seventh-floor apartment to fetch clothes and food before moving in with a friend uptown. She doesn't feel unsafe, but the neighborhood is being abandoned; at night, without street lamps, "it feels like Gotham in Batman." Tuesday night in the West Village, on the corner of Bleecker Street and 8th Avenue, a small grocery store that remained open had no power for its freezers or refrigerators, but was doing brisk flashlight-aided business in tuna fish and potato chips. The cashier didn't even flinch when a woman asked if she could pay with a credit card. A few bars were open, all lit by candles and with the predictable chalkboard outside advertising plenty of booze, but they weren't doing much business. The one activity that everyone seems to engage in: taking Instagram photos of felled trees. Not far from anyone's mind is that other disaster, 11 years ago, that cut downtown off from the rest of New York. But while the confusion and camaraderie of lower Manhattan reminds us of the days after 9/11, the mood remains reassuringly pleasant, at least so far. "There's a generator in Stuy Town, and one guy last night begged to use my phone charger," Lee said. "I thought he had an emergency call to make. Turned out he'd met some girl the night before and he wanted to see if she'd texted him." But whether the mood downtown remains as light this evening, and in the unknown powerless days to come, is far less certain.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Barclays reports third-quarter loss as US authorities mull fine over energy trading and Middle East fundraising faces scrutiny Barclays took another hit to its battered reputation yesterday by revealing US regulators are investigating its 2008 crucial fund raising and preparing to issue fines for allegedly trying to manipulate electricity prices in California. As the embattled bank admitted it had slumped to a third-quarter loss as a result of the payment protection insurance scandal, it revealed that US regulators are now looking at the crucial fundraising from Middle Eastern investors that saved the bank from a government bailout at the time of the banking meltdown. That deal is also being investigated by the Financial Services Authority and the Serious Fraud Office. Antony Jenkins, promoted to chief executive after Bob Diamond left in the wake of the Libor-rigging scandal, insisted the bank would "vigorously defend" itself against potential penalties for its electricity trading activities from the United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) office of enforcement which are expected to be announced imminently. The regulator has been investigating Barclays' power trading in the western US from late 2006 to 2008. Barclays was one of the biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 index of major shares, ending almost 5% lower at 227p after the new investigations were announced and after the performance of of the investment bank disappointed some analysts. The FSA is already analysing disclosures the bank made about its 2008 fundraisings and the US authorities – the department of justice and US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – are now investigating whether these fundraisings were "compliant" with the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Barclays said it was "fully co-operating" with the two regulators. The bank admitted in July that its finance director, Chris Lucas, and three others were being investigated by the FSA for two fundraisings that took place to help the bank avoid a bailout by the taxpayer in 2008 and has since admitted the SFO is investigating. The latest admissions by the bank come in a week in which a high court judge has ruled that Diamond and other bankers should be hauled before the court to explain what they knew about Libor rigging in a case brought by Guardian Care Homes which is largely about the mis-selling of interest rate swaps. Jenkins, presenting his first set of results since replacing Diamond at the start of September, refused to reveal how many Barclays staff had been fired, suspended or disciplined as a result of the alleged manipulation of Libor. But, he said, "rest assured" that bonuses had been clawed back from the individuals involved. However, he did not go so far as to say whether this included Diamond and Jerry del Missier, the chief operating officer who also quit after a record £290m fine was imposed on Barclays. In the third quarter the bank slumped to a £47m loss, which had been expected after the bank stunned the City earlier this month by setting aside another £700m to cover the cost of PPI mis-selling claims, taking its bill to £2bn. Over the nine months to the end of September, profits were down 86% to £712m as a result of the PPI charge and the fluctuations in the cost of buying back its own debt, which has led to a £4bn charge.Jenkins defended the performance of the investment bank, known as Barclays Capital until a rebranding exercise, which reported a slowdown in the third quarter when rivals were stronger. Even so, the investment bank continued to generate the bulk of the profit, generating £3.2bn in the first nine months, up 19%, while the retail and business banking business which Jenkins ran until his promotion, suffered a 5% slump in profits to £1.4bn. Analysts at UBS said that "short-term share price movements" would be influenced by the disclosure of the new regulatory investigations and the slightly more sober outlook statement. The performance of the investment bank disappointed Gary Greenwood, banks analyst at Shore Capital, who said that "total income in the investment bank fell short of market expectations, following a strong showing elsewhere in the industry"
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Arab spring has left US-friendly rulers in region nervous about possible impact of an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear programme US military commanders have warned their Israeli counterparts that any action against Iran would severely limit the ability of American forces in the region to mount their own operations against the Iranian nuclear programme by cutting off vital logistical support from Gulf Arab allies. US naval, air and ground forces are dependent for bases, refuelling and supplies on Gulf Arab rulers who are deeply concerned about the progress Iran has made in its nuclear programme, but also about the rising challenge to their regimes posed by the Arab spring and the galvanising impact on popular unrest of an Israeli attack on Iran. The US Fifth Fleet is headquartered in Bahrain and the US air force has major bases in Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Senior US officers believe the one case in which they could not rely fully on those bases for military operations against Iranian installations would be if Israel acted first. "The Gulf states' one great fear is Iran going nuclear. The other is a regional war that would destabilise them," said a source in the region. "They might support a massive war against Iran, but they know they are not going to get that, and they know a limited strike is not worth it, as it will not destroy the programme and only make Iran angrier." Israeli leaders had hinted they might take military action to set back the Iranian programme, but that threat receded in September when the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, told the United Nations general assembly that Iran's advances in uranium enrichment would only breach Israel's "red line" in spring or summer next year. Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak, said this week in London that it was the Iranian decision this year to convert a third of the country's stock of 20%-enriched uranium into fuel (making it harder to convert to weapons-grade material if Iran decided to make a weapon) that had bought another "eight to 10 months". Barak's comments appear to signal that Israel's new red line is an Iranian stockpile of about 200kg of 20%-enriched uranium in convertible form, enough if enriched further to make one bomb. Western diplomats argue the benchmark is arbitrary, as it would take Iran another few months to enrich the stockpile to 90% (weapons-grade) purity, and then perhaps another year to develop a warhead small enough to put on a missile. Even then Tehran would have just one nuclear bomb, hardly enough to make it a nuclear weapons power. France's president, François Hollande, met Netanyahu in Paris on Wednesday but rejected the push for military action. "It's a threat that cannot be accepted by France," Hollande said, arguing for further sanctions coupled with negotiations. A new round of international talks with Iran are due after the US presidential elections, in which Tehran is expected to be offered sanctions relief in return for an end to 20% enrichment. Netanyahu argued sanctions had failed to stop Iran's nuclear programme and claimed Arab nations would be "relieved" if Iran was stopped from building nuclear weaponsa bomb. Emile Hokayem, a senior fellow of the International Institute for Strategic Studies office in Bahrain, disagreed, saying: "I don't believe the Gulf states are praying for an Israeli attack. "An attack would create difficult problems for them on the political level. They will be called on to denounce Israel, and they will want to stay out of it. The risk of regional war to them is huge," he said, but added that if Iran responded to an Israeli attack by lashing out at the US and its Arab allies, those restraints on the Gulf states' own response would be lifted. The UK government has told the US that it cannot rely on the use of British bases in Ascension Island, Cyprus, and Diego Garcia for an assault on Iran as pre-emptive action would be illegal. The Arab spring has also complicated US contingency planning for any new conflict in the Gulf. US naval commanders have watched with unease as the newly elected Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, has made overtures towards Iran. US ships make 200 transits a year through the Suez canal. Manama, the Fifth Fleet headquarters, is the capital of a country that is 70% Shia and currently in turmoil. Ami Ayalon, a former chief of the Israeli navy and the country's internal intelligence service, Shin Bet, argues Israel too cannot ignore the new Arab realities. "We live in a new Middle East where the street has become stronger and the leaders are weaker," Ayalon told the Guardian. "In order for Israel to face Iran we will have to form a coalition of relatively pragmatic regimes in the region, and the only way to create that coalition is to show progress on the Israel-Palestinian track."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Will Wyatt says poor handling of crisis and lack of reaction to Newsnight revelations shows something 'doesn't work' at the top The former managing director of BBC television has said it is likely that some senior executives will lose their jobs over the Jimmy Savile child-abuse scandal that is engulfing the corporation. Will Wyatt, who left the BBC in 1999 after 34 years, also firmly laid the blame on the PR department for the botched handling of the crisis. "I find it hard to believe that six months from now, everybody who is working in the corporation at whatever level will still be working be there," Wyatt told The Media Show on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday. "It will be very difficult for the BBC to come out of this, act decisively and everyone to be in post everywhere," he said. Wyatt said the BBC's lack of reaction to the revelations that Newsnight's investigation had been dropped, even though they had one woman who accused Savile of abusing her on camera, showed that "clearly something doesn't work" at the top level of the corporation. Wyatt added that the new director general, George Entwistle, had got off to a good start by apologising to the victims straight away, but the handling of the crisis after that left a lot to be desired. He was particularly critical of a decision to put Entwistle up for a hastily arranged press conference on 13 October, following a Scotland Yard briefing revealed that police were investigating as many as 200 potential victims of alleged abuse by Savile and others. "When the director general was put in public, it was done in a pretty amateurish away, he looked as though he was on his own," said Wyatt. He said Entwistle was not getting the crisis management advice he needed. "I would say the communications and press people were not on their game," he added. "Someone should have said 'look, there's a story here, it looks pretty damning. It says Jimmy Savile was abusing girls on BBC premises, Newsnight were investigating it, it has been dropped. What the hell was going on? Let's find out what'," said Wyatt. Newspaper reports that the Newsnight investigation of December 2011 had been dropped were published in January and February this year. The BBC Trust chairman, Lord Patten, has already said he was unaware of them as they were buried away among about 150 other cuttings concerning the BBC sent to him every day. But Wyatt said communications executives should been alarmed by the report. "When those articles appeared, someone in the press department should have brought them to the attention of the head of news, indeed the director general – and made them clear, and then there should have been a quick investigation of what the hell this was about and was this important or not, you could have decided that at the time," said Wyatt. Wyatt said that if newspaper reports had emerged when he was at the BBC claiming one of the corporation's biggest star was a paedophile, they would not have been ignored. "You'd like to think someone should have said 'get to the bottom of this'. I find it hard to believe that with previous deputy director general Mark Byford that wouldn't have happened," he added. "He would have got a grip, got on with it, called people into a room and found out what, when, and how and briefed the DG, and whoever else needed to be briefed, on what he found." • 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.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Republican challenger avoids praise of government's Sandy response in first of three campaign stops in crucial swing state Mitt Romney sidestepped a controversy over whether he plans to shut down the federal emergency response agency at an election rally in Florida where he is struggling to hold onto a once commanding lead in the opinion polls. Speaking at a Tampa airport hangar in his first stop since campaigning was put on hold by superstorm Sandy, Romney alluded briefly to the hurricane by saying it was a demonstration of how Americans pull together in time of crisis. "We're going through trauma in a major part of the country," he said. "It's interesting to see how people come together in a circumstance like this. We see folks from all over the the country step forward and offer contributions." But the Republican candidate avoided praise for the government's relief response and did not touch on questions dogging him about a statement he made last year saying he would scrap Fema, which has led the post-Sandy recovery efforts. Romney hasn't been helped by the Republican New Jersey governor Chris Christie's praise of Fema and Barack Obama's handling of the crisis. But the former Florida governor, Jeb Bush, did weigh in at the Romney rally. He reminded the crowd that Florida was hit by eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 2004/5. He added that, from his experience, "local level and state level" is better at handling the response than Fema. The audience cheered. Romney was making three stops on Wednesday in Florida, where his substantial bounce in support after Obama's disastrous first debate performance has evaporated. Polls put the Republican candidate up to seven percentage points ahead a month ago, but a New York Times survey on Wednesday has the president back in front, even if only by one point. If Romney fails to take Florida, he stands little chance of winning the election. He played to the crowd in a part of the country where Hispanic voters could decide the issue with a promise to boost trade with Latin America, saying it's economy is a big as China's and that it doesn't cheat as much. He also dwelled on Florida's role in the space programme with a lengthy story about the scouts and a flag on the space shuttle Challenger when it blew up. The flag survived. The crowd was won over. But, after his earlier denunciations of federal spending, Romney managed not to mention that the space programme is government funded. It was among the more effective parts of a speech that was long on railing against corporate tax rates and working with Democrats as governor of Massachusetts to cut spending. Paro Amram, a Romney supporter and environmental engineer, was mostly impressed. "I found it very moving. He talked about the national character and how the country pulls together through hard times," he said. But Amram said he thought Romney is probably wrong about Fema. "I do think there's a federal role. Fema has tremendous resources and these people spend a lot of time planning," he said. "There's some balance needed."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Preparations for election to find successor to Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai focus on security and fraud concerns Afghanistan has fixed the date for its next presidential election, when voters will chose their first new leader in more than a decade, but even with 18 months to prepare, the government may struggle to tackle worries about security and fraud. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said the vote would be held on 5 April 2014 after four months of campaigning. Elections to provincial councils will be held at the same time. Polls in 2009 and 2010 were marred by serious corruption, falling turnout and a rise in security problems as the Taliban targeted election booths, voters, poll workers and candidates. Afghanistan has been working on legislation and an electronic voter registration system to try to avoid fraud, and activists said a firm date and election timetable would make it easier to measure progress. "The announcement of the calendar is a positive development and we certainly welcome this," said Ahmad Nader Nadery, chairman of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, and a former commissioner on the country's Independent Human Rights Commission. "There are other issues that are pressing now we have the date in front of us … for the IEC and the election to be trusted, and for people to go back and enthusiastically participate as voters and candidates, reform needs to be pursued much more aggressively." The vote will chose a successor to incumbent Hamid Karzai, who has run the country since the 2001 ousting of the Taliban, first as a nominated leader and then after winning two successive elections. The constitution bars him from running again, but there have been persistent concerns among some of his critics that he might try to alter the constitution to make way for a third term. A firm timetable could boost confidence that he plans to bow to the law, although he is expected to be heavily involved in the election. "The question many people have been asking is whether Karzai is going to actually step aside and let someone else be president," said Heather Barr, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The choosing of a date goes some way towards assuaging those fears." The United Nations welcomed the decision and committed to supporting the elections, and the US embassy described the date as "more than a day on a calendar". The US ambassador to Afghanistan, James Cunningham, said: "It is symbolic of the aspiration of Afghans for elections which will be crucial for Afghanistan's future stability. This will be an Afghan process, with the US and the international community prepared to provide support and encouragement." That support is likely to be much needed, as the Afghan government tries to fill gaps left by foreign troops. In past elections Nato forces have helped with security at voting booths in places dominated or strongly threatened by the Taliban, and helped ferry ballot boxes, poll officials and voting papers between remote parts of the country. Many of those troops are due to leave by the end of 2014, and by April of that year will have limited resources. "[The IEC] has had to compromise between the fact that the later it pushes the date, the less it has in terms of international security, and the earlier it hosts it the less time it has to get ready," said Barr. Additional reporting by Mokhtar Amiri
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Passengers were fleeing growing violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in western Burma At least 130 refugees fleeing violence in western Burma have drowned after the overcrowded fishing boat they believed was carrying them to safety capsized and sank. Six survivors were rescued by local fishermen, local activists said. The shipwreck is the single most lethal incident linked to the ongoing clashes between the Muslim Rohingya minority and local Rakhine Buddhists in Burma's Arakan state. The death toll has reached 80 in the last 11 days, according to official estimates. Thousands of homes have also been destroyed, along with places of worship. Exact details of the wreck are unclear. But there were fears it could fuel further communal violence, which itself threatens to jeopardise the reform process in Burma. Last week UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said that "the vigilante attacks, targeted threats and extremist rhetoric must be stopped [or] … the opening up process being currently pursued by the government is likely to be jeopardised". The crisis has also posed a major challenge to Nobel laureate and pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been criticised for failing to speak out strongly enough on the issue. Her National League for Democracy party has remained silent since releasing a brief statement on 24 October. "[Aung San Suu Kyi] has an obligation to do something about the crisis but for some time she has been silent," said Abu Tahay, a Rohingya politician in Yangon, the country's commercial and cultural capital. A first round of violence in June led to 75,000 people, mainly Muslims, fleeing their homes. The clashes over the last 10 days have forced nearly 30,000 more from their villages, according to the United Nations. The vast majority are Rohingya, who are not recognised as citizens of Burma and suffer widespread discrimination. Ethnic Rakhine communities have also suffered. "I am very worried about the coming weeks. The situation is very unstable. In five minutes the violence could be everywhere," Abu Tahay said. On Wednesday a standoff continued on Ramree Island, close to the centre of recent clashes, as security forces attempted to protect Rohingya villages from crowds of local Rakhine. About 7,000 new refugees, including many who had been living on boats for several days, landed near the port town of Sittwe on Tuesday, NGO workers said. Many had been forced to leave their homes in the town of Kyauk Ni Maw, where the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman, allegedly by Muslims, in May sparked the sectarian violence that engulfed much of the state the following month. Hundreds have taken to boats or sought refuge on unpopulated coastal islands over recent days, refugee sources said. Neighbouring Bangladesh, which already has an estimated 300,000 Rohingya refugees, has closed its border, an act which activists claim violates international law. Rohingya campaigners on the Bangladeshi side of the border contacted by the Guardian said they had seen boats full of refugees offshore which were unable to land despite running low on water and food. Thousands of Rohingya try to leave Burma by boat every year. Many vessels are unseaworthy and every year several sink. Chris Lewa, an activist who tracks the ships, said that about 7,000 made the journey from Burma to Malaysia, often via Thailand, during the 2010-2011 sailing season. "They are often loaded out to sea and, though some are in better condition than others, they are all packed," she said. Refugees pay between $1,700 (£1,000) and $2,000 for a place but usually only put down a $400 deposit. Experts say the crisis is rooted in ethnic and religious tensions that were suppressed during nearly 50 years of brutal military rule. Hand grenades were thrown on Sunday night at two mosques in Karen state in the east of the country, causing no casualties, domestic media reported. Some of those now fleeing their homes were Burmese Muslims from the officially recognised Kaman minority. "It's the first time that we've seen the Kaman targeted. That's very worrying," said Mabrur Ahmed, of Restless Beings, a UK-based human rights group. The UN estimate there are 800,000 Rohingya in Burma. Although many have lived in the country for generations, they are considered illegal immigrants and face widespread hostility. In June President Thein Sein suggested the best solution to the violence was that the UN resettle Burmese Rohingya outside the country.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tabloid also told not to publish information obtained from Siobhain McDonagh's mobile, which was reportedly handed to it The Sun newspaper has been ordered by a high court judge to reveal what it knows about the alleged theft of a mobile phone belonging to Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh, which was reportedly handed to the paper by a member of the public. Mr Justice Vos also on Wednesday issued a temporary injunction against the Sun preventing the tabloid publishing any material in relation to confidential information on the phone. At the same time Vos issued an order barring reporting of witness statements submitted to court in relation to the theft to prevent potential criminal proceedings being compromised by "the side wind of civil proceedings". McDonagh's phone was allegedly stolen in October 2010. But it did not emerge that it had been handed over to the Sun by an unidentified individual until the Metropolitan police discovered the connection this summer as part of its Operation Tuleta investigation into alleged computer hacking and other criminal breaches of privacy by newspapers. Details on the case have so far been scant, but in a 45-minute hearing at the high court on Wednesday, it became evident that the phone had not been handed back to McDonagh and News Group Newspapers, the News International subsidiary that publishes the Sun, has been given 21 days to explain what happened to it. Vos said the paper might say "we chucked it away in a bin or never had in the first place" but that it needed to provide the court with details either way. Before the judge finalised the wording of the order, the counsel for News Group Newspapers, Guy Vassall Adams, said that McDonagh's demand to hand over the mobile "presupposes that [News Group Newspapers] knows the whereabouts" of the phone. Vos's order, handed down in court, said: "The defendant shall, within 21 days of this order, provide a confidential witness statement, containing a statement of truth to the claimant's solicitors, explaining what material has been delivered up and where it is originating from, and if no mobile phone, and, or, no other material is delivered up what inquiries have been made by the defendant and the outcome of those inquiries; any further information they may have as to whether that material was ever in their possession and as to the present whereabouts of that material." McDonagh launched proceedings against News Group Newspapers on 7 September, two months after a Sun journalist was arrested and bailed by officers working on Tuleta in relation to allegedly "handling stolen goods". They acted after the Met had been handed information by News International's management and standards committee that showed "staff at News International titles appear to have been in possession of material downloaded or otherwise obtained from stolen mobile phones". • 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
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mitt Romney is back on the campaign trail in Florida as the political ceasefire caused by Sandy comes to an end
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Leeds general infirmary worker says BBC star arrived in early hours of morning with teenagers and took them to nurses' rooms Jimmy Savile took over staff bedrooms reserved for surgeons and nurses at Leeds general infirmary to spend nights with teenage girls, often two at a time, a porter who worked alongside Savile when he volunteered at the hospital has told the Guardian. Savile did shifts at the Yorkshire infirmary from at least 1968 and was known for cheerily pushing patients on trolley beds into operating theatres. But he was also exploiting his access to bring girls, apparently from outside the hospital, some suspected to be under 16, into staff rooms in the early hours of the morning, according to Terry Pratt, who worked as a porter at the hospital until about a year ago. "He would come in about 1am or 2am because there were bedrooms up there and he could get out of the way," said Pratt, who worked night shifts and witnessed Savile bring different pairs of girls in, "one on each arm", during 1981 and 1982. "He would say 'hello' to the shift leader, 'can I go in the nurses rooms again?' He would come about two times a week, say on a Monday and again on a Thursday. It was debatable whether the girls were 16. They were definitely in their teens. When they started talking to you it was obvious they weren't streetwise, especially being out at that time in the morning. It was different people each time and he never brought them back through our room. There was always a car waiting. On one occasion when I went for a breath of fresh air I saw the girls get into the back and he would get into the driver's seat and drive them off." Pratt said the rooms were intended for nurses and travelling specialist surgeons and Savile knew they were often empty. He would use them despite having a home in the Roundhay suburb of Leeds less than three miles from the hospital. They are now used as administrative offices by the Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust which is facing parallel Metropolitan police and Department of Health inquiries into Savile's activities. The name of a doctor who allegedly collaborated with the star in child abuse at Leeds general has been reported to Scotland Yard detectives and June Thornton, a former nurse at the infirmary, earlier this month said Savile molested a brain-damaged young girl who was a patient at the hospital. Thornton was recovering from an operation herself when she said she saw Savile "kissing her neck, running his hands up and down her arms, and then started to molest her". The Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust is understood to treating the claims with caution and is seeking information from other porters who worked at Leeds general hospital when Savile was a volunteer. "The trust is in contact with senior detectives from the Metropolitan police and we have indicated our intention to help with their inquiries," a spokesman said. "If there are any issues which need to be addressed following the police investigation then we will take action." "We are shocked at the nature and extent of the very serious allegations which continue to be made against Jimmy Savile," a spokesman said. "We have already made it clear we do not have any record of complaints about Jimmy Savile's behaviour made during the time he was a volunteer and charity supporter at Leeds general infirmary or at any of our other hospitals." The spokesman conceded that records for the hospital going back to the 1980s and before were difficult to search because of changes in governance structures. "Since then we are aware there have been allegations about incidents said to have taken place at the hospital, which clearly are of great concern to us. This whole matter needs to be looked into fully and we are currently giving every co-operation to the police." In 1974, several years after he started volunteering, Savile told the Guardian he had "a guilt feeling" about his work at Leeds general, Broadmoor and Stoke Mandeville. "I get so much enjoyment working in these places that I should actually be paying them to allow me in," he said. "It took me 10 minutes to do my job at the BBC today. I can come back here, but what can I do for the rest of the day? If you want to have a booze-up, you have a booze-up but that doesn't turn me on."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | More than one in four people out of work in Greece and Spain as jobless rate rises to 11.6%, according to Eurostat data Unemployment in the eurozone has risen to a new high, with Spain recording the highest jobless rate with more than one in four out of work. There are now 18.49 million people without jobs in the 17 countries sharing the euro, European statistics office Eurostat said on Wednesday, with an extra 146,000 joining the ranks of the unemployed last month. The jobless rate increased to 11.6% in September, the highest on record, from a revised 11.5% in August. "With surveys suggesting that firms are becoming more reluctant to hire, the eurozone unemployment rate looks set to rise further, placing more pressure on struggling households," said Ben May, European economist at Capital Economics. The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.4%), Luxembourg (5.2%), Germany and the Netherlands (both 5.4%), which are near full employment. Spain (25.8%) and Greece (25.1% in July) had the highest unemployment in the eurozone, while France looks much like Italy (both at 10.8%), with a steady rise in joblessness. August data for Greece will be published next week, although the true picture is probably worse, as a growing number of Greek workers remain nominally employed but have not been paid for some time. Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight, said the jobless data was "dismal", adding: "Eurozone labour markets remain under serious pressure from ongoing weakened economic activity and low business confidence." Youth unemployment also hit a new high in Spain with 54.2% of under-25-year-olds out of work, up from 53.8%. Across the whole European Union, 25.751 million men and women were without jobs last month – an increase of 169,000 from August – while the unemployment rate stayed at 10.6%. By comparison, the unemployment rate was 7.9% in the UK, 7.8% in the US and 4.2% in Japan in September. There was some good news for the eurozone though – inflation eased to 2.5% in October, from 2.6%. Energy prices continued to rise, by 7.8%, but by less than the month before, when they climbed by 9.1% year-on-year. Food became dearer, however, with prices up 3.2% compared with 2.9% in September. Economists expect the European Central Bank to cut interest rates again before the year is out from the current record low of 0.75% to support the flagging economy, which probably slumped back to recession in the third quarter.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Half of government budget allocation is yet to be distributed, despite 325,000 people still living in temporary accommodation A quarter of the 11.7tn yen (£91bn) the Japanese government allocated to rebuild the region devastated by last year's earthquake and tsunami has been spent on projects unrelated to the disaster. A government audit also found about half of the reconstruction budget had yet to be distributed owing to red tape and indecision over how the affected communities should be rebuilt. The revelations have prompted anger among survivors, who say reconstruction is taking too long. More than 18 months after the disaster, about 325,000 people forced to flee the tsunami and radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are still living in temporary accommodation and have no idea when, or if, they will be able to return to their home towns. A breakdown of expenditure for the 2011 portion of the disaster budget found a large amount had gone to projects that have little or no relationship to the reconstruction efforts in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, where almost 20,000 people died on 11 March last year. They included 500m yen for road construction in Okinawa, more than 1,000 miles to the south; 330m yen to repair a sports stadium in Tokyo; 10.7bn yen for a nuclear power research organisation; and subsidies for a contact lens factory. Another 30m yen went to the justice ministry to buy equipment for prisons, while 2.3bn yen was given to the fisheries agency to protect Japan's whaling fleet from harassment by the marine conservation group, Sea Shepherd. Other expenditure included renovations of government offices in Tokyo, training for aircraft and fighter pilots, research and production of rare-earth minerals, and semiconductor research. The revelations have embarrassed the prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, whose Democratic party of Japan won the 2009 election on promises to improve transparency and cut waste – particularly on public works projects. "It is true that the government has not done enough and has not done it adequately," Noda said in a speech to parliament this week. "We must listen to those who say the reconstruction should be the first priority." In a separate audit of a 9.2bn yen share of the total budget, Yoshimitsu Shiozaki, an expert in urban planning at Kobe University, found about a quarter had been allocated to programmes unrelated to the disaster. "Legally speaking, there are no problems with these projects," Shiozaki was quoted as saying in the Japan Times. He said similar budget irregularities were found after the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, in which more than 6,000 people died, but added, "this time the funds are being used in a more deceptive way." Government officials initially defended its use of disaster funds, arguing the cash would spark a general economic recovery from which the ravaged north-east would also benefit. Officials said money had been granted to companies in different parts of the country because they had business relationships with smaller firms in the disaster region. The trade and industry minister, Yukio Edano, insisted there was "no doubt" the distribution of cash had benefited communities affected by the tsunami. Local media reported that money used to improve disaster readiness in areas untouched by the tsunami could be trimmed next year, but there is no sign yet that the government will rein in other dubious expenditures. Noda acknowledged, however, that the revelations had angered the public, saying he would "wring out" spending on unrelated projects. Reconstruction spending included in the budgets for 2011 and next year was supposed to help people affected by the nuclear crisis, rebuild infrastructure destroyed by the tsunami and create employment. The government has pledged to spend 23tn yen by the end of the decade on reconstruction and disaster prevention, 19tn of it within five years.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Catholic church mouthpiece devotes five articles to 007 film Skyfall, praising 'beautiful Bond girls' and 'essential vodka martinis' He is known for the violent retribution he administers to his enemies, thinking nothing of shooting, stabbing or electrocuting them as he hands out justice on behalf of Queen and country, before uttering a dry quip over their corpses. So you might imagine that James Bond's approach to forgiveness does not have much in common with the Catholic Church. But the Vatican's daily newspaper has overlooked such niceties and given delirious coverage to Skyfall, the latest Bond film, claiming it shows a new, introspective side of the British agent while thankfully cramming in the usual dose of exotic locations and "extremely beautiful Bond girls". L'Osservatore Romano has tried recently to move with the times, praising cult films such as the Blues Brothers, lauding Bob Dylan and publishing a women's supplement, ever since the editor, Gian Maria Vian, was told by the pope in 2007 to liven up the 151-year-old daily. But its Skyfall review takes things to new limits for the newspaper, which ran it in Wednesday's edition alongside coverage of the 500th anniversary of the Sistine Chapel, the appointment of new bishops in Peru and the Philippines, and the welcome news that catholic numbers are rising in Ireland. "To celebrate 50 years of the world's most famous secret agent – which even the Queen paid homage to at the Olympics – we needed a film that rose to the occasion," said the paper in its review, one of five articles that it devoted to Bond. "Skyfall does not disappoint. The 23rd Bond film is one of the best in the longest cinematic story of all time," it states, adding the film "does not lack any of the classic ingredients which have made James Bond a legend – the title credits song, adrenalin pumping action, amazing hyper-realistic chases, exotic locations, extremely beautiful Bond girls, the usual super villain and the essential vodka martini." For the bishops, priests and cardinals itching to catch Skyfall, the paper gives a breathless breakdown of the plot, admiring the generational clash that "is the key to the film". Daniel Craig, who claimed in Casino Royale that he preferred having sex with married women, is deemed to be "ever more convincing", in his latest appearance, while Judy Dench is "perfect" as M. Javier Bardem, is described as terrific, "up there with Goldfinger, Dr No and Rosa Klebb", although no mention is given to the homoerotic feel he gives his character. Bond himself is less clichéd, "less attracted to the pleasures of life, darker and more introspective, less invulnerable physically and psychologically and because of this more human, even able to be moved and to cry – in a word, more real." Summing up, the paper declares: "Nothing will ever be the same again on the big screen for James Bond." A background piece on Ian Fleming follows, with L'Osservatore Romano's extensive coverage wrapping up with a focus on Bond soundtracks, heaping praise on Monty Norman's Bond theme. And in a eulogy eloquent enough to make any priest sob into his bible, it praises the "two minutes of music played during the legendary gun-barrel sequence which evokes a world of impeccable dinner jackets, cocktails, casinos, luxury villas, femme fatales and powerful cars."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Sandy clean up begins as death toll reaches 48 and Obama to tour storm damage
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Foundation close to central leadership urges end to birth limits policy across China by 2015, with experts saying reform is 'inevitable' A Chinese government thinktank is urging the country's leaders to start phasing out its one-child policy immediately and allow two children for every family by 2015, a daring proposal to do away with the unpopular policy. Some demographers view the timeline put forward by the China Development Research Foundation as a bold move by a body close to the central leadership. Others warn that the gradual approach, if implemented, would still be insufficient to help correct the problems that China's strict birth limits have created. Xie Meng, a press affairs official with the foundation, said the final version of the report would be released "in a week or two". But Chinese state media have been given advance copies. The official Xinhua News Agency said the foundation recommends a two-child policy in some provinces from this year and a nationwide two-child policy by 2015. It proposes all birth limits be dropped by 2020, Xinhua reported. "China has paid a huge political and social cost for the policy, as it has resulted in social conflict, high administrative costs and led indirectly to a long-term gender imbalance at birth," Xinhua said, citing the report. But it remains unclear whether Chinese leaders are ready to take up the recommendations. China's National Population and Family Planning Commission had no immediate comment on the report on Tuesday. Known to many as the one-child policy, China's actual rules are more complicated. The government limits most urban couples to one child, and allows two children for rural families if their first-born is a girl. There are numerous other exceptions as well, including looser rules for minority families and a two-child limit for parents who are themselves both singletons. Cai Yong, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said the report holds extra weight because the thinktank is under the State Council, China's cabinet. He said he found it remarkable that state-backed demographers were willing to publicly propose such a detailed schedule and plan on how to get rid of China's birth limits. "That tells us at least that policy change is inevitable, it's coming," said Cai, who was not involved in the drafting of the report but knows many of the experts who were. Cai is currently a visiting scholar at Fudan University in Shanghai. "It's coming, but we cannot predict when exactly it will come." Adding to the uncertainty is a once-in-a-decade leadership transition that kicks off 8 November that will involve a new slate of top leaders installed by spring. Cai said the transition could keep population reform on the backburner or changes may be rushed through to help burnish the reputations of outgoing President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. There has been growing speculation among Chinese media, experts and ordinary people about whether the government will soon relax the one-child policy – introduced in 1980 as a temporary measure to curb the surging population – and allow more people to have two children. Though the government credits the policy with preventing hundreds of millions of births and helping lift countless families out of poverty, it is reviled by many ordinary people. The strict limits have led to forced abortions and sterilisations, even though such measures are illegal. Couples who flout the rules face hefty fines, seizure of their property and loss of their jobs. Many demographers argue the policy has worsened the country's aging crisis by limiting the size of the young labour pool that must support the large baby boom generation as it retires. They say it has contributed to the imbalanced sex ratio by encouraging families to abort baby girls, preferring to try for a male heir. The government recognises those problems and has tried to address them by boosting social services for the elderly. It has also banned sex-selective abortion and rewarded rural families whose only child is a girl. Many today also view the birth limits as outdated, a relic of the era when housing, jobs and food were provided by the state. "It has been 30 years since our planned economy was liberalised," commented Wang Yi, the owner of a shop that sells textiles online, under a news report on the proposal. "So why do we still have to plan our population?" Though open debate about the policy has flourished in state media and online, leaders have so far expressed a desire to maintain the status quo. President Hu said last year that China would keep its strict family planning policy to keep the birth rate low and other officials have said that no changes are expected until at least 2015. Wang Feng, director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy and an expert on China's demographics, contributed research material to the foundation's report but has yet to see the full text. He said he welcomed the gist of the document that he's seen in state media. It says the government "should return the rights of reproduction to the people", he said. "That's very bold." Gu Baochang, a professor of demography at Beijing's Renmin University and a vocal advocate of reform, said the proposed timeline wasn't aggressive enough. "They should have reformed this policy ages ago," he said. "It just keeps getting held up, delayed."
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