|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Teenager's death latest of six self-immolations in the last week as China's communist leadership undergoes transfer of power An 18-year-old Tibetan villager died after setting himself on fire in northwest China in the latest of a half-dozen such self-immolations reported during the past week as the country's communist leadership undergoes a once-a-decade transfer of power. A short report from the state-run Xinhua News Agency did not offer a reason why the man self-immolated, but dozens of ethnic Tibetans have set themselves on fire in heavily Tibetan regions over more than a year and a half to protest Chinese rule. Overseas groups that report on most of the self-immolations had said at least five ethnic Tibetans set themselves on fire earlier in the week in protests aimed as a signal to the Communist Party elite as they meet in Beijing in a pivotal, weeklong congress that opened on Thursday. On Friday, hundreds of Tibetans, mostly high school students, demonstrated in a town that sits at the edge of the Tibetan plateau in western Qinghai province, calling for Tibetan independence and the return from exile of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Saturday's immolation took place in the afternoon in front of a monastery in the city of Hezuo in the Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Gannan, Xinhua said, citing provincial government sources. The man has been identified as Gonpo Tsering from the city's Lexiu township and further investigations are under way, Xinhua said. Overseas activist groups had no immediate information on Saturday's incident, and police in Hezuo declined to comment. Calls to Hezuo's city government and to authorities and police in Gannan prefecture rang unanswered Sunday. In Beijing on Friday, Tibetan Communist Party officials attending the party congress told reporters they believed much of the blame for the spate of self-immolations fell on the Dalai Lama and his associates, whom they said were instigating the protests. "The external Tibetan forces and the Dalai clique are sacrificing other people's lives to attain their secret political motives," Lobsang Gyaincain, the Chinese-appointed vice governor of Tibet, told reporters. The Dalai Lama has said he opposes all violence and says the self-immolations are a symptom of the desperation and frustration felt by Tibetans living under the Chinese government's hardline policies in the region, including its tight restrictions on religious life.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | George Entwistle said he is standing down after Newsnight fiasco as it is the 'honourable thing to do'
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Television boss leaves job for abuse story lapses in what Trust chairman Chris Patten laments as his 'saddest day' The BBC has been plunged into the deepest crisis in its history with the dramatic resignation of its director general, George Entwistle, after just 54 days in the job. Entwistle fell on his sword after being engulfed by a crisis that escalated following confirmation on Friday that the BBC had wrongly implicated Lord McAlpine, a former senior Tory politician, in the wake of a second scandal to hit Newsnight. In an extraordinary scene outside Broadcasting House, in central London, just after 9pm, Entwistle, flanked by the BBC Trust's chairman, Chris Patten, said he felt it was the "honourable" thing to do. His resignation was accepted by Patten who said it was one of the "saddest evenings of my public life" to see Entwistle end his 23-year career at the BBC in such ignominious circumstances. Looking composed, but battle-weary, Entwistle read from a prepared statement: "In the light of the fact that the director general is also the editor in chief and ultimately responsible for all content; and in the light of the unacceptable journalistic standards of the Newsnight film broadcast on Friday 2 November, I have decided that the honourable thing to do is to step down from the post of director general," he said. Tim Davie, currently director of audio and music who was scheduled to take over as head of BBC Worldwide, was named as the acting DG while the hunt for a new boss takes place. His resignation came less than 12 hours after a catastrophic interview with John Humphrys on Radio 4's Today programme in which Entwistle admitted he was completely unaware that Newsnight was going to make such serious allegations about a senior Tory politician. Critics said he gave the impression of a man completely at sea when he admitted that not only was he unaware of the allegations, but that nobody had brought to his attention an article in Friday's Guardian that the victim of child abuse in the Welsh care home, Steve Messham, who had made the claims, may have mistaken the identity of the perpetrator. The pressure on Entwistle intensified on Friday morning when McAlpine broke cover after eight days of rumour and innuendo going viral on Twitter, branding the allegation as entirely false and threatening to sue the BBC. John Whittingdale, the chairman of the influential select committee that grilled Entwistle over the Jimmy Savile scandal, said he thought Entwistle had made the right decision as his "position had become untenable, once he had said he was unaware that the programme was being broadcast". He told BBC News: "It left the impression that the management of the BBC had lost their grip on the organisation and I think the decision is undoubtedly the right one." This is one of the worst crises the BBC has faced since it was founded in 1927: director generals have resigned in the past, but none has risen and disappeared within such a short space of time. On Saturday afternoon Jonathan Dimbleby, one of the corporation's most revered broadcasters, said he feared the public now perceived the BBC as "a rudderless ship heading towards the rocks", adding he hoped somebody would "seize the helm quickly". Entwistle was branded "totally clueless" by one influential Labour politician after admitting on one of the BBC's flagship programmes, Radio 4's Today, that he was completely unaware that Newsnight was to make such serious allegations about a senior Tory politician, albeit unnamed, until the day after the broadcast eight days ago. Culture secretary Maria Miler said Entwistle had made the right decision. "It's a regrettable situation, but the right decision. It is vital that credibility and public trust in this important national institution is restored. It is now crucial that the BBC puts the systems in place to ensure it can make first class news and current affairs programmes." Sir Christopher Bland, a former chairman of the BBC board of governors, said: "It's arguable that it's a necessary sacrifice, but it's tragic for George and tragic for the organisation." Michael Crick, the former Newsnight political editor, who was instrumental in revealing the mistakes made in the recent investigation into false claims concerning Lord McAlpine, tweeted: "George Entwistle's resignation v sad. A good, decent man, badly let down. V few people could have coped with recent rush of awful events." Former Labour culture secretary Ben Bradshaw tweeted his unhappiness that Entwistle had been "forced" out. Enwistle was appointed as director general this summer and took over from Mark Thompson in September, but within two weeks was hit by the extraordinary revelations that Jimmy Savile, one of the BBC's biggest stars, had been a serial child abuser and had molested under-age girls on BBC premises. But he was immediately put on the back foot when it emerged that the BBC had squashed a Newsnight investigation into Savile last December, just weeks before three tribute programmes were due to be scheduled. Entwistle had been warned that it might cause a problem, but had failed to inquire what the subject of the investigation was, leading to criticism that he displayed "an extraordinary lack of curiosity" about his own organisation. The Humphrys interview in which Entwistle admitted for the second time that he did not know anything about the content of a controversial Newsnight programme compounded the apparent lack of judgment, with politicians lining up on Saturday to question whether he was the right man for the job. Bland added that the BBC now needed to establish "calmly and accurately what went wrong" to safeguard against future blunders. He said it was extraordinary that the "bog standard checks" had not been made by Newsnight – the programme makers had not contacted McAlpine about the allegations or shown a photograph of McAlpine to Messham, the victim of child abuse who made the accusations. He said serious questions needed to be asked of other executives. "Where were the lawyers; where was the chain of command?" said Bland. Senior insiders say the mistakes were made because the Savile scandal had effectively torpedoed the management structure in BBC news and current affairs with senior executives, including the head of news and the editor of Newsnight, standing down from their posts while two internal inquiries took place. One senior journalist said the chain of command was now "breakable brittle rubber" rather than the rod of iron normally in place which would ensure the highest editorial standards in the world.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | George Entwistle said he is standing down after Newsnight fiasco as it is the 'honourable thing to do'
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | News organisations say biographer with whom general had an extramarital affair may have had access to his messages New details have emerged over the shock resignation of CIA chief David Petraeus, suggesting that the chain of events leading to his eventual downfall began with an FBI probe into his personal email account. Several American news organisations reported that investigators began monitoring Petraeus' email after it was alerted that his biographer, Paula Broadwell, may have had access to his messages. In the course of that investigation it was discovered that Petraeus and Broadwell were having an illicit sexual relationship. The clandestine affair led to this spy chief's sudden resignation on Friday, just a week before he was due to testify at hearings into the death of the US ambassador to Libya in an attack on the consulate in Benghazi. Petraeus is now no longer expected to appear. In stepping down, the four-star general said he had shown "extremely poor judgment" by having an extramarital affair. It was an embarrassing fall from grace for one of America's most senior and respected military thinkers, who was one of the most high-profile members of the Obama administration. Petraeus, who went to see President Obama on Thursday, to offer his resignation, said in a letter published on Friday that he had resigned for personal reasons. "After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extra-marital affair," he said in the letter. "Such behaviour is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organisation such as ours." Petraeus met his wife, Holly, when he was a cadet at West Point, of which her father was the superintendent at the time. Mrs Petraeus is an official with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, working with the office of service member affairs, which looks after the financial interests of those serving in the military. The deputy CIA director, Michael Morell, an Asia specialist, is to take over the running of the agency in the short term, on the understanding that Obama will nominate him for the director position on a permanent basis. The nomination must be formally approved by the Senate. In his statement, addressed to colleagues, Petraeus said: "As I depart Langley, I want you to know that it has been the greatest of privileges to have served with you, the officers of our nation's Silent Service, a workforce that is truly exceptional in every regard. Indeed, you did extraordinary work on a host of critical missions during my time as director, and I am deeply grateful to you for that. "Teddy Roosevelt once observed that life's greatest gift is the opportunity to work hard at work worth doing. I will always treasure my opportunity to have done that with you and I will always regret the circumstances that brought that work with you to an end." Obama issued a statement, praising Petraeus for what it called "extraordinary service" to the US for decades. "By any measure, he was one of the outstanding general officers of his generation, helping our military adapt to new challenges, and leading our men and women in uniform through a remarkable period of service in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he helped our nation put those wars on a path to a responsible end," the president's statement said. "As director of the Central Intelligence Agency, he has continued to serve with characteristic intellectual rigor, dedication, and patriotism. By any measure, through his lifetime of service David Petraeus has made our country safer and stronger." Obama added: "My thoughts and prayers are with Dave and Holly Petraeus, who has done so much to help military families through her own work. I wish them the very best at this difficult time." James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said in a statement: "Dave's decision to step down represents the loss of one of our nation's most respected public servants. From his long, illustrious Army career to his leadership at the helm of CIA, Dave has redefined what it means to serve and sacrifice for one's country." After news of the resignation broke, on NBC, it emerged that Petraeus would no longer have to testify before a congressional hearing next week, regarding the Benghazi consulate attack. This prompted speculation that his departure was also connected to criticism of the CIA's handling of the issue. But as the details of the FBI investigation and the possible security breach emerged on Friday night, this seemed unlikely. A glittering military career
Petraeus took up the CIA post in September 2011, after what was regarded in Washington as a glittering military career. He was credited with crafting – after listening to younger officers – the counter-insurgency strategy in Iraq that helped the US beat al-Qaida with the help of Sunnis.
Afghanistan was more difficult but again he was given credit in Washington for having done a good job, given all the problems stacked against him. He was frequently tipped in Washington circles as a potential Republican presidential candidate. Senator John McCain, a champion of Petraeus down the years but now one of the leading critics of the administration's handling of Benghazi, issued a statement praising the former CIA director. "General David Petraeus will stand in the ranks of America's greatest military heroes. His inspirational leadership and his genius were directly responsible – after years of failure – for the success of the surge in Iraq," McCain said. Petraeus belonged to a new generation of officers who liked to describe themselves as scholar-warriors, having spent part of his career in academe. He was different from other such officers, though, in one important way – he was also extremely political, good at courting people in various administrations and in Congress. He left West Point in 1974 and followed a conventional army career. It was his time in academia that made him different and helped him to the top of the military. While taking time out, he wrote extensively about the US experience in Vietnam, developing an alternative counter-intelligence philosophy. He caught the attention of senior figures during his command of northern Iraq in the early days of the 2003 and George W Bush sent him back in 2007, with overall command of US and other international forces during the so-called surge. He then implemented the "hearts and minds" policy that he had developed during his Vietnam study, winning over Sunni tribal leaders to engage in operations against al-Qaida elements in what became known as the Sunni Awakening. Petraeus returned to the US in 2008, to take over Central Command. When the senior commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, was forced to resign over comments reported in an article in Rolling Stone, Petraeus was called for again, this time by Obama.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | News organisations say biographer with whom general had an extra-marital affair may have had access to his messages New details have emerged over the shock resignation of CIA chief David Petraeus, suggesting that the chain of events leading to his eventual downfall began with an FBI probe into his personal email account. Several American news organisations reported that investigators began monitoring Petraeus' email after it was alerted that his biographer, Paula Broadwell, may have had access to his messages. In the course of that investigation it was discovered that Petraeus and Broadwell were having an illicit sexual relationship. The clandestine affair led to this spy chief's sudden resignation on Friday, just a week before he was due to testify at hearings into the death of the US ambassador to Libya in an attack on the consulate in Benghazi. Petraeus is now no longer expected to appear. In stepping down, the four-star general said he had shown "extremely poor judgment" by having an extramarital affair. It was an embarrassing fall from grace for one of America's most senior and respected military thinkers, who was one of the most high-profile members of the Obama administration. Petraeus, who went to see President Obama on Thursday, to offer his resignation, said in a letter published on Friday that he had resigned for personal reasons. "After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extra-marital affair," he said in the letter. "Such behaviour is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organisation such as ours." Petraeus met his wife, Holly, when he was a cadet at West Point, of which her father was the superintendent at the time. Mrs Petraeus is an official with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, working with the office of service member affairs, which looks after the financial interests of those serving in the military. The deputy CIA director, Michael Morell, an Asia specialist, is to take over the running of the agency in the short term, on the understanding that Obama will nominate him for the director position on a permanent basis. The nomination must be formally approved by the Senate. In his statement, addressed to colleagues, Petraeus said: "As I depart Langley, I want you to know that it has been the greatest of privileges to have served with you, the officers of our nation's Silent Service, a workforce that is truly exceptional in every regard. Indeed, you did extraordinary work on a host of critical missions during my time as director, and I am deeply grateful to you for that. "Teddy Roosevelt once observed that life's greatest gift is the opportunity to work hard at work worth doing. I will always treasure my opportunity to have done that with you and I will always regret the circumstances that brought that work with you to an end." Obama issued a statement, praising Petraeus for what it called "extraordinary service" to the US for decades. "By any measure, he was one of the outstanding general officers of his generation, helping our military adapt to new challenges, and leading our men and women in uniform through a remarkable period of service in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he helped our nation put those wars on a path to a responsible end," the president's statement said. "As director of the Central Intelligence Agency, he has continued to serve with characteristic intellectual rigor, dedication, and patriotism. By any measure, through his lifetime of service David Petraeus has made our country safer and stronger." Obama added: "My thoughts and prayers are with Dave and Holly Petraeus, who has done so much to help military families through her own work. I wish them the very best at this difficult time." James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said in a statement: "Dave's decision to step down represents the loss of one of our nation's most respected public servants. From his long, illustrious Army career to his leadership at the helm of CIA, Dave has redefined what it means to serve and sacrifice for one's country." After news of the resignation broke, on NBC, it emerged that Petraeus would no longer have to testify before a congressional hearing next week, regarding the Benghazi consulate attack. This prompted speculation that his departure was also connected to criticism of the CIA's handling of the issue. But as the details of the FBI investigation and the possible security breach emerged on Friday night, this seemed unlikely. A glittering military career
Petraeus took up the CIA post in September 2011, after what was regarded in Washington as a glittering military career. He was credited with crafting – after listening to younger officers – the counter-insurgency strategy in Iraq that helped the US beat al-Qaida with the help of Sunnis.
Afghanistan was more difficult but again he was given credit in Washington for having done a good job, given all the problems stacked against him. He was frequently tipped in Washington circles as a potential Republican presidential candidate. Senator John McCain, a champion of Petraeus down the years but now one of the leading critics of the administration's handling of Benghazi, issued a statement praising the former CIA director. "General David Petraeus will stand in the ranks of America's greatest military heroes. His inspirational leadership and his genius were directly responsible – after years of failure – for the success of the surge in Iraq," McCain said. Petraeus belonged to a new generation of officers who liked to describe themselves as scholar-warriors, having spent part of his career in academe. He was different from other such officers, though, in one important way – he was also extremely political, good at courting people in various administrations and in Congress. He left West Point in 1974 and followed a conventional army career. It was his time in academia that made him different and helped him to the top of the military. While taking time out, he wrote extensively about the US experience in Vietnam, developing an alternative counter-intelligence philosophy. He caught the attention of senior figures during his command of northern Iraq in the early days of the 2003 and George W Bush sent him back in 2007, with overall command of US and other international forces during the so-called surge. He then implemented the "hearts and minds" policy that he had developed during his Vietnam study, winning over Sunni tribal leaders to engage in operations against al-Qaida elements in what became known as the Sunni Awakening. Petraeus returned to the US in 2008, to take over Central Command. When the senior commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, was forced to resign over comments reported in an article in Rolling Stone, Petraeus was called for again, this time by Obama.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The same old story for Villa, who go two goals up only to lose yet again against United at home riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Villa Park and Environs. Aston Villa are caught in a whirlpool alright, a never-ending cycle in which United come to Villa Park; United win at Villa Park. United come to Villa Park; United win at Villa Park. United come to Villa Park; United win at Villa Park. It's the most predictable outcome in All Football. Look at Villa's home record against United since they won The Alan Hansen Game® in 1995: P21, W1, D6, L14, F13, A31. Look at it! The one win came in the League Cup against a team containing Michael Twiss, Luke Chadwick, Ronnie Wallwork, Michael Clegg, John Curtis and Jordi Cruyff. Should Villa beat United today, the following thunderclap will be heard: Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntro-
varrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk. Kick off: Shatterday, 5.30pm. Some much-needed succour for Villa: Paul Lambert's young team are on a three-match unbeaten run after suffering a slow start to the campaign. Some barely-required succour for United: Sir Alex Ferguson's men have won all but three of their 16 competitive matches this season, and have scored 21 goals in the last seven. They are hot, baby. They're 7-4 on to win this game; hot. In other betting-odds news, Wayne Rooney is 10,000-1 to take a successful penalty. Aston Villa hand a first Premier League start to 22-year-old Irish left-back Enda Stevens, with Joe Bennett ruled out through injury and Eric Lichaj suspended: Guzan, Lowton, Vlaar, Clark, Stevens, Weimann, Westwood, Ireland, Bannan, Agbonlahor, Benteke.
Subs: Given, El Ahmadi, Albrighton, Holman, Delph, Bowery, Williams. Manchester United shoogle their team about, with Jonny Evans and Nani nursing groin and hamstring injuries respectively: De Gea, Da Silva, Ferdinand, Smalling, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Scholes, Young, Rooney, van Persie.
Subs: Lindegaard, Anderson, Hernandez, Welbeck, Cleverley, Fletcher, Buttner. Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire). This dude almost guarantees some sort of action. In ten games this season, he's only shown two red cards, to Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in the Community Shield against Manchester City, and to Stoke City's Dean Whitehead at Reading on the opening day of the season. But look at the number of yellow cards he's been handing out! Thirty nine! Those include two eight-yellow hauls, a seven, and a six. He can't keep it in his trousers! He also seems to guarantee goals, for some reason: 3-2 to City in the Community Shield, 3-2 for United against Fulham, Arsenal's 6-1 thrashing of Southampton, a 4-1 win for Nottingham Forest at Barnsley, and that 7-5 between Reading and Arsenal in the League Cup. Kevin Friend: entertainment's pal. The teams are out! Villa are in their stylishly Victorian claret-and-blue combo, United in their white-and-black away garb. "If this match-up deserves a Finnegan's Wake quote I hate to think what literary references you have saved up for the next El Clasico," worries Ian Copestake, somewhat unnecessarily, as when that game's on I'll be back home furiously scribbling notes in the margins of The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha while sitting on the toilet watching the game on television like the rest of you. And reading the MBM report, of course, being a second-screen kinda guy. Remembrance Sunday ... is of course tomorrow. But the large crowd at Villa Park pay their respects to the country's fallen servicemen and women now, in an (almost) perfectly observed minute's silence. Only one or two mouthy eejits, a shame but statistically that's none too bad, so nothing to report here. And we're off! Villa set the ball rolling, and hoick it long. They lose it. The home crowd will be hoping this doesn't form a pattern. "United have won an awful lot of games the last season-and-a-half without actually being any good. But we are not fooled - you can't kid anyone with wins, as Mr. Hansen almost said." Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for Mac Millings. He's here all week. Luckily, it's already the weekend. 2 min: Ashley Young receives possession of the ball, and hits a wall of boos from the crowd. They're not happy he's gone, are they? 4 min: Scholes and Carrick tiki-taka along the front of the Villa area. The ball breaks right to Valencia, whose shot is deflected behind for a corner. The set piece is met by Carrick, who's clearly got his attacking head on today; his corner is aimed for the top-right corner, but claimed without fuss by Guzan. A bright start by the away side. 5 min: Young has started energetically, which might cause the home fans some discomfort, not least because they're clearly keen on keeping up their lusty jeering of the player. I hope they're well stocked up on Strepsils, or have hipflasks full of whisky in their coat pockets. Anyway, Young cuts inside from the left, and looks to curl one into the bottom right, but sets the thing too far outside the post. The crowd jeer, then start necking their Strepsils or (but hopefully not 'and') whisky. 8 min: Free kick to Villa down the right. Bannan whips a magnificent effort towards the back post, where Smalling eyebrows out for a corner. There's a brief pause as Evra receives some treatment, having come off worse in a 50-50 with Vlaar. 10 min: From the corner, coming in from the left, there's some head tennis. United neither clear their lines properly, nor come out to catch Villa offside, and the ball drops to Agbonlahor, level with the right-hand post, eight yards out. Scholes is over quickly to whip the ball off his toe to clear. That's the end of a decent period of pressure from the home side. 11 min: Scholes carelessly gives the ball away in the middle of the park. Ireland bombs forward, but with options left and right, plays a hopeless ball forward in the vague direction of Benteke, and a half-chance to trouble United is spurned. 13 min: It's been a lively start by the home side, all things considered. United look to settle the game down a wee bit by stroking it around at the back. A lot. 15 min: What a chance for Villa here. Rooney's on the edge of the Villa box, and shapes to shoot for the top right. His effort is blocked, and Villa break at speed upfield, Ireland releasing Weimann into the United half with a clever header. Weimann has men either side, with only two United white shirts back. But he hesitates fatally, and his eventual effort to thread the ball through for Benteke is blocked by a combination of Ferdinand and Smalling, who have pincered him perfectly. What a waste. 16 min: Villa really do have their tails up here, and United aren't looking particularly happy at the back. They're all over the place as Benteke suddenly finds himself clear in the area down the inside left. But again there's hesitation, and his eventual shot towards the bottom left from a tight-ish angle is parried out for a corner. Bannan's subsequent delivery from the set piece is a total embarrassment, and as I'm all about spreading the love as opposed to making people look or sound foolish, I'll not be describing it here. 18 min: United are all over the shop. Ireland is bossing the play from the middle. He sprays a pass out right to Agbonlahor, who zips clear down the wing. The resulting low cross isn't bad at all, but just a tad behind Benteke, who kicks fresh air at a ball that isn't there. Smalling is fooled into doing the same thing. Rafael eventually picks up the loose ball and scampers away from danger with it. 19 min: Villa Park rises for a standing ovation in support of the ailing, but hopefully ailing for not very much longer, Stiliyan Petrov. 22 min: United show up front for the first time in a wee while. Valencia sends Rafael scuttling towards the byline on the overlap, the Brazilian clipping a cross into the centre for Rooney, who can't get a header away from close range. United recycle the ball back out to the right, where Valencia lashes over wildly, and hopelessly it must be said, from a promising position as he enters the box. 24 min: Scholes is, not for the first time today, caught fannying around on the ball in the middle of his own half. Ireland makes off with it and slides it forward to Benteke, who is clear on goal. He's not given the opportunity to take a shot, however, as the referee rules that Ireland clipped Scholes on the back of his heel. A correct decision, but the dithering Scholes can nevertheless count himself very lucky that Ireland didn't pick his pocket with more elan. The United legend has the good grace to look slightly embarrassed as he gathers himself up before play restarts. 27 min: Benteke goes on a bomb down the right, reaching the byline then whipping a cross through the area at ludicrous speed. United aren't at all impressive at the back this evening. But Villa will need to score while their visitors are rocking, because United rarely act up like this for an entire 90 minutes. 29 min: United have been more fluent up front, though, and Young is this close to breaking clear into the Villa area down the inside right. Vlaar is having none of it, though, and engages him in a tussle the former Villa charge can't win. Free kick, much to the pleasure of the home crowd. 32 min: A lot of space for Valencia down the right, but Clark sweeps his low fizzing cross away spectacularly. United are beginning to up the tempo, after a very shaky few minutes. 33 min: Scholes has a shot from the edge of the area that balloons off Vlaar, 30 miles or so into the air. Guzan gathers it with supreme confidence, saving the corner. 35 min: A lull in what's been a pretty entertaining half of football, given that neither goalkeeper has had a save of note to make. 36 min: Ireland has been very impressive so far. Here he takes up possession in the middle of the park, nudges the ball forward, and unleashes a low screamer towards the bottom-right corner. De Gea knows full well that the effort is heading well wide, and acts accordingly in the casual style, but it's a decent whack by the former Manchester City man nonetheless. 39 min: Westwood isn't far away from releasing Benteke down the right with a sliderule pass between Smalling and Evra, but the centre back is having no truck with the idea, and intercepts. This has been a good effort by Villa, Paul Lambert will be happy with his young side so far. 40 min: Barry Bannan - the Scottish Paul Scholes, let us never forget - stands over a free kick in the middle of the United half. He sends a floater towards the left-hand post, where Vlaar is hanging around with intent, but the perceptive Smalling steps in to nut clear. 42 min: Lowton, Bannan, Ireland and Weimann push United back with a lovely flowing move down the right. From deep inside their own half they triangulate all the way upfield, from where Lowton eventually overcooks a cross. But that's some very pretty football. United have had the lion's share of possession - 70 percent to 30 for the home side - but the stat belies the even nature of this contest. 44 min: Rooney, who has been quiet but not as hushed as the nigh-on-invisible van Persie, sends a rising rasper goalwards from a position down the inside-right channel. Guzan is behind it all the way. 45 min: Stevens makes good down the left, and loops a dangerous cross into the middle, but there's nobody there to convert. 45 min +1: WHAT A GOAL!!! Aston Villa 1-0 Manchester United. United are on the attack, and refuse to put the ball out while Clark is prone in the area. They may regret their opportunism, because the move breaks down, and Villa scamper upfield, with United light at the back. Bannan sweeps a pass down the left for Benteke, who powers along the wing. He stops suddenly, then before twisting back, spectacularly shoulder-barges Smalling out of the way, a proper old-school bullying. No doubt there'll be complaints about the challenge, but they're all grown adults and there's nothing wrong with that. Benteke wastes no time in pulling a low ball across for the onrushing Weimann, who from the edge of the box sidefoots at full power straight through De Gea, beaten all ends up for pace. What a strike that was! A magnificent finish, but Benteke, dearie me. HALF TIME: Aston Villa 1-0 Manchester United. And that's the last act of the half. Villa were excellent, and thoroughly deserve their lead. United have been all over the shop at the back. Fergie will be plugging in the hairdryer as we speak, with a view to turning it up to 11 or maybe even 17. HALF-TIME ENTERTAINMENT: United will have the blues at the moment, that much is certain. So let's go back to the Seventies, with this surprisingly rifftastic number from Aberdonian singer-songwriter Martin Buchan. Not sure who's behind the tinkling piano riff that Oscar Peterson would have been proud to play. Lou Macari, perhaps? I can certainly picture him sitting behind a Steinway, in dinner jacket and dickie bow, a long, tall glass of gin and cucumber sitting on the piano top, a cigarette smoldering enigmatically in an ashtray, smoke flitting across the dots. And we're off again! Villa will be kicking towards the Holte End, but it's United who get the ball first, kicking off for the second period as they do. A change for the visitors: the pantomime villain Young is swapped for Hernandez. 47 min: United are dominating the early exchanges of this half, with van Persie scurrying around down the right and forcing Clark to head his cross behind for a corner, from which nothing develops. 50 min: GOAL!!! Aston Villa 2-0 Manchester United. What on earth are United's back four doing? They're all gathered in the middle of their own half, positioned on a small square of turf like the dots on a dice. It allows Ireland to spread a pass out left for Agbonlahor, who screams into the area before dragging a low ball into the centre, where the onrushing - and onside - Weimann sidefoots home from six yards. What a simple goal! What tatters United are in! And so much for their early dominance of the half! 53 min: United rock for a couple of minutes, Agbonlahor threatening to break clear down the left again. Then they press forward again, but Carrick and van Persie can't combine on the edge of the area, and Stevens clanks clear. Villa Park is rocking, much as you'd imagine it to be with the scoreline as it is. 55 min: Ireland is booked for a crude, late lunge on Smalling. He can have no complaints. "Villa's best hope was to not score and hope that United would sleepwalk the whole way through the game," suggests Niall Mullen. "The optimum time for them to score would be 100ms before the ref blew for full time. Now, though, they have awoken the Cracken." Well, they've been here before alright. Gerard Houllier's side were two up with nine minutes to play, two years ago almost to the day, before Federico Macheda and Nemanja Vidic earned United a draw. And of course there was that FA Cup tie in 2002. United will need to raise their game, though; they've been wholly poor today up to this point. 58 min: GOAL!!! Aston Villa 2-1 Manchester United. And so it begins? Scholes, in the centre circle, sprays a delightful ball down the inside-right channel to spring Hernandez clear. The striker lets the ball snag under his feet as he enters the area, but despite feeling pressure from Clark on his left shoulder, he manages to regain his composure and guide a scruffy effort through the advancing Guzan and into the bottom left. That's his fifth goal in six games - and the league leaders are right back in this!!! 60 min: United were dreadful for the best part of the first hour, but don't expect their final half hour to be so dismal now. Valencia makes good down the right and whips a ball across for Scholes, who isn't far off meeting the cross at the far post. 62 min: Villa have obviously decided that sitting back is a completely pointless endeavour. Agbonlahor has a whack from the left. Cleared. Then he makes off down the right, and sends one into the centre, Bentake heading straight at De Gea. They've 30 minutes to hold on, but... 63 min: GOAL!!! Aston Villa 2-2 Manchester United. Yep, it had begun alright. Scholes sets Rafael free with an exquisite sliderule ball down the right. The full back crosses deep. Cutting in from the left, at a tight angle, is Hernandez - and the ball ends up in the net! It initially looks like a majestic finish, but not quite: the volley flashes across the face of goal and goes in off Vlaar. It's still wonderful play by the striker - what a connection, and what a substitution! - but it's not his goal, is all. 66 min: God knows how this will end. First Rooney takes a long-distance whack, Guzan doing well to palm clear a shot that was going into the bottom right. Then, up the other end, Bannan finds the head of Weimann with a curling cross from deep. Weimann's ten yards out, and powers a header straight at De Gea, who reflexes the ball back out to safety. This game will not end 2-2. 67 min: Disclaimer: our lawyers would like to point out that this game may still end 2-2. 69 min: United's players, so strangely subdued for so long, are strutting around with much more purpose now. Carrick, Scholes and Rooney swish the ball hither and yon, pulling Villa this way and that as they line up along the front of their area. Nothing happens for the visitors this time, but you get the feeling United really fancy this now. 70 min: Nevertheless, Villa don't plan to go away quietly. Benteke, 12 yards out, meets a right-wing cross, Smalling deflecting his effort out for a corner. Bannan fires the set piece straight through the box, a ball that looks dangerous before sailing harmlessly out of play on the other side. 72 min: Up the other end, and a corner for United from the left. Rooney swings it in. Van Persie meets it at the near post, six yards out, and hammers a powerheader off the crossbar. You can hear the twang back in Manchester. 73 min: If the crossbar was twanging 60 seconds ago, it's now slap-riffin' like the E string on That Bloke From Level 42's bass guitar. Van Persie cuts inside from the right and unleashes a preposterously clean effort goalwards, the ball heading for the top left. Unfortunately for the Dutch striker, it's about one inch off target, and, to the tune of The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up), wallops the woodwork. 76 min: Benteke makes off at speed down the right, and his cross isn't too far from finding Agbonlahor in the centre, but the wee man doesn't have his stacked heels on, and United clear. "You can tell that this is a poor Villa side (tautology?) because usually they can hold out until 80-85 minutes before capitulating completely," is how Niall Mullen has decided to twist the knife. 78 min: Scholes, incidentally, was replaced by Cleverley a good seven minutes ago, a fact I've only just remembered because Anderson has just come on for Rooney. But can you blame me? This match hasn't stopped. It's been grand entertainment. 79 min: El Ahmadi comes on for Ireland. "Is it me or does Gary Lineker have the look of Alan Partridge in this photo?" wonders James Riordan. In his KMKYWAP years, indeed. 80 min: And another change for Villa, Holman coming on for the two-goal hero Weimann. 83 min: Villa Park is tense. A couple of minutes of Attack v Defence here. Villa can't get out of their own third. Crosses are flung in from either side. Then Rafael, coming in from the right, stupidly releases the pressure by looking for the top-left corner from 30 yards. The ball sails into a stand containing rather a lot of good people from the Birmingham area who are currently breathing quite irregularly. 85 min: Agbonlahor wins a free kick down the Villa left. Bannan sweeps a long diagonal ball to Benteke, on the right-hand corner of the United area. Benteke - who has been magnificent - brings the ball down despite being challenged by three United players. He slips it to Holman, who isn't far away from breaking clear into the area down the inside-right channel. But Smalling snuffs the move out, and Villa's brief sortie upfield is over. "Gary Lineker is not fit to lace Alan Partridge's boots," opines Simon McMahon. An opinion, of course, can also be a fact. 86 min: Delph comes on for Bannan. 87 min: SEEN THIS SCORELINE BEFORE? Aston Villa 2-3 Manchester United. This was so simple. A free kick to United, midway in the Villa half down the right. Van Persie curls the set piece at pace towards the far post, where Hernandez guides the ball into the bottom-right corner. So clinical. He's turned this game around almost single-handedly. Villa have that familiar queasy feeling. 89 min: Villa are trying to respond, but the heart's not in it. They look totally deflated. They performed so well for the first hour, and now they're facing yet another abject home defeat at the hands of Manchester United. 90 min: There will be five added minutes. The away support have set the narrative arc of this match to song. 90 min +3: Holman shapes to shoot on the edge of the United area, but Evra blocks. Corner. Wasted corner. 90 min +4: United are sitting back, inviting a wee bit of pressure. Benteke sashays across the front of the box, left to right, but can't get a shot away. FULL TIME: Aston Villa 2-3 Manchester United. But that's that. Villa were brilliant for the first 60 minutes, but United were even better for the final 30. And once again, the home side are on the end of another excruciating turnaround. O bitter ending! I'll slip away before they're up. They'll never see. Nor know. Nor miss me. And it's old and old it's sad and old it's sad and weary I go back to you, my cold father, my cold mad father, my cold mad feary father, till the near sight of the mere size of him, the moyles and moyles of it, moananoaning, makes me seasilt saltsick and I rush, my only, into your arms. I see them rising! Save me from those therrble prongs! Two more. Onetwo moremens more. So. Avelaval. My leaves have drifted from me. All. But one clings still. I'll bear it on me. To remind me of. Lff! So soft this morning, ours. Yes. Carry me along, taddy, like you done through the toy fair! If I seen him bearing down on me now under whitespread wings like he'd come from Arkangels, I sink I'd die down over his feet, humbly dumbly, only to washup. Yes, tid. There's where. First. We pass through grass behush the bush to. Whish! A gull. Gulls. Far calls. Coming, far! End here. Us then. Finn, again! Take. Bussoftlhee, mememormee! Till thousendsthee. Lps. The keys to. Given! A way a lone a last a loved a long the
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Boss's future under threat after poor radio performance as Jonathan Dimbleby says corporation 'heading towards rocks' Jonathan Dimbleby, one of the BBC's most revered journalists, has said he fears the corporation resembles a "rudderless ship heading towards the rocks", as the crisis engulfing the BBC following the latest Newsnight fiasco threatens to end the career of the director general George Entwistle, just seven weeks after he stepped into the top job. Senior politicians and former and current BBC staff have questioned whether Entwistle can survive after an excruciating performance on Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday when he admitted he was completely unaware of a Newsnight report that wrongly implicated the former Tory treasurer Lord McAlpine in child abuse, until the day following its broadcast. The programme went out on Friday 2 November, but Entwistle was "out" when it was broadcast and even though rumours were swirling all week that the key witness may have mistakenly identified McAlpine, who is now threatening to sue, Entwistle remained oblivious. He admitted to Humphrys he had not read a Guardian investigation, revealing the case of mistaken identity on Friday, or listened to the Today programme discussing the issue. Dimbleby, presenter of Radio 4's Any Questions, said the latest Newsnight controversy, hot on the heels of the Jimmy Savile scandal, was taking its toll on the BBC. "I fear that the public will feel that the BBC is like a rudderless ship heading towards the rocks and I very much hope that someone seizes the helm quickly." David Mellor, the former cabinet minister with responsibility for the BBC, said Entwistle came across as "so out of touch it made me think Winnie the Pooh would have been more effective." He added: "An entire field of management has failed here … Entwistle lacks credibility and he should go as soon as possible. I will be amazed if he is still there at the end of the week." Entwistle's admission comes as the BBC Trust described the latest scandal threatening to engulf the corporation as "deeply troubling". He described the Newsnight report on the north Wales children's home scandal as "unacceptable" and warned that staff involved in the programme could face disciplinary action. But he said he would not be resigning or closing down Newsnight as this would be "disproportionate". "We should not have put out a film that was so fundamentally wrong. What happened here is completely unacceptable," he told Humphrys. His Today programme performance was described as that of a "train crash" by one senior presenter. Paul Farrelly, a Labour member of the influential culture, media and sport select committee, said: "He is not only totally clueless, but seems divorced from the real world. He seems to lack basic curiosity and there now must be questions as to whether he is strong enough person to have his hand on the tiller." Tory MP John Whittingdale, who chairs the committee, said there had been "failure of management at every level" at the BBC, while culture secretary Maria Miller said: "The events of the last few days only serve to underline the vital importance of restoring credibility." Shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman said it was "absolutely clear that something has gone badly wrong" at Newsnight. George Carey, the first editor of Newsnight, said he felt that Entwistle was "relying on the system" to deliver the leadership instead of "picking up the phone" to find out what was going on. Insiders say the Newsnight fiasco happened because the BBC had removed senior executives responsible for the programme from their posts while the inquiry into the first Newsnight scandal – why its Jimmy Savile investigation was dropped – was taking place. They say morale at Newsnight was terrible all week and asked why an outside journalist was entrusted with carrying out an investigation into such a serious allegation as child abuse by a Tory close to Margaret Thatcher. "This is completely terrible journalism, a terrible blow to the reputation of the programme. The sooner Nick Pollard reports on the Newsnight Jimmy Savile decision the better: they have got to sort this out quickly, get to the bottom of who said what, and be swift and tough. I can't believe everyone on the pay roll will be there in two months' time. This is not the time for sentimentality," said Will Wyatt, the former managing director of BBC Television. Insiders say Newsnight has been in crisis for some time – it has been understaffed as posts are cut across news and current affairs programmes, and Entwistle, a former editor, may well have been aware of this. "They are all at each other's throats, blaming everyone. It is a programme lacking leadership, lacking good producers and reporters," said a journalist closely associated with it. It also suffers high turnover because ambitious young producers under the BBC system are essentially encouraged to move on quickly, undermining the base of expertise," the insider added. There is talk that Newsnight may effectively be closed down and rebranded. "It is the end of Newsnight. The programme cannot survive a calamity like this," said one leading BBC presenter.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | President Obama and the House speaker both claim a mandate from voters, but each raised the possibility of compromise President Barack Obama used the first weekly radio address of his second term Saturday to vow that he would stick to an election promise to raise tax contributions from the richest Americans to tackle the "fiscal cliff". Obama's first order of business following Tuesday's victory at the polls is to tackle a series of tax hikes and spending cuts that will be triggered in the new year if there is no wide-ranging deal with Congress on a deficit-trimming budget. If such a deal fails, many experts are predicting the US economy could fall back into recession. But the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has said it will not countenance any tax rises as part of the agreement. In his new address, Obama said that was not acceptable: "I refuse to accept any approach that isn't balanced. I will not ask students or seniors or middle-class families to pay down the entire deficit while people making over $250,000 aren't asked to pay a dime more in taxes." The president added that he believed this election victory over the Republican challenger Mitt Romney had given him a mandate to carry out his promise. "This was a central question in the election. And on Tuesday, we found out that the majority of Americans agree with my approach," he said. So far both sides – while sticking to their positions – have also tried to indicate that they are open to negotiations and compromise. Obama continued that line on Saturday by holding out the prospect of wide-ranging talks with his Republican opponents. "We know there will be differences and disagreements in the months to come. That's part of what makes our political system work," he said. "Instead, you want cooperation. You want action. That's what I plan to deliver in my second term, and I expect to find leaders from both parties willing to join me." Next week Obama will be meeting with top Republicans and Democratic leaders to begin the process of thrashing out a possible deal. He is also set to consult with business leaders and officials from organised labour. Many business leaders have argued that the prospect of going over the fiscal cliff represents a nightmare scenario for America's economic prospects. Some have called for tax hikes to be part of any settlement. Before the election, 80 American business leaders, including Microsoft's Steve Ballmer and JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon, signed a letter calling for a balanced approach to tackling the budget deficit, including tax hikes and spending cuts. On Friday, United Continental airline boss Jeff Smisek told CNBC that the fiscal cliff could have a potentially more disastrous impact on his business than superstorm Sandy. "It makes it difficult for us to operate," Smisek said. However, a political deal is far from guaranteed. The election left House Majority leader John Boehner firmly in control of the House of Representatives, along with its Tea Party-infused Republican caucus. Many of those politicians are implacably opposed to any form of tax hike, and Boehner has also struck a strong tone, claiming that the election results that left his party in charge of the House also represent a mandate from the people.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Syrian National Council supported by Assad opponents continue to stall over a response to the formation of an umbrella group Moves to form a credible alternative to Syria's Assad regime look set to end in failure, with the main opposition bloc refusing to endorse a broad-based government in waiting or contribute to how it might take shape. The Syrian National Council, supported by opponents of Assad earlier in the uprising and more recently derided, continued to stall over a response to the formation of an umbrella group that aims to forge stronger alliances with groups inside Syria. At risk of being sidelined by its former key backers, the SNC had used a week-long summit in the Qatari capital, Doha, to fight a rearguard action, which shored up its position in any new group and conveyed an image that it was reinventing itself. The SNC nominated a new leader, an exiled member of Syria's Christian minority, George Sabra, who called for the international community to resume funding the organisation and not link support to an opposition revamp. "Unfortunately we get nothing from them, except some statements, some encouragement", while Assad's allies "give the regime everything," Sabra told the Associated Press. Sabra was named as the group's new head after the type of power struggle that has characterised the SNC's performance as a once relatively peaceful uprising became an entrenched civil war. With the crisis in Syria worsening over the past 15 months, the SNC has declined in relevance and standing. It is viewed with contempt by Syria's armed factions and by large numbers of the growing refugee community. A consensus within both groups is that the SNC has squandered numerous chances to convince those Syrians not wedded to the Assad regime that they have a viable alternative. The Doha meeting was supposed to mark a new chapter for Syria's political opposition. Organisers, particularly Qatar and the US, had hoped for the formation of a body that could build bridges to groups inside Syria and channel aid money to them. The US and senior Arab League officials had signalled they would recognise any new body that could bring together disparate factions. It had suggested that aid money would again start to flow. Apparently reluctant to yield the power it has held over such channels, the SNC announced a new leadership lineup. Reaction to it was underwhelming. The 41-member executive committee contains no women and, apart from Sabra as leader, has not diversified to include any minorities. Syria's minority groups, Alawites, Christians, Kurds and Druze among them, have been reluctant to support the opposition uprising, with many among them accepting Assad's argument that only his regime can act as guarantor of their safety. The armed opposition is largely led by Syria's Sunni Muslim majority, which accounts for around 70% of the country's population. Rebel groups inside Syria are engaged in a bitter contest to win patrons abroad. Ammunition is running low among established Islamist fighting units on Aleppo's frontlines. Jihadist organisations, however, such as Jabhat al-Nusra and al-Mujaharin – both al-Qaida linked – are not facing the same shortages. As a result, both groups are taking increasingly prominent roles in attacks against government forces. A failure to pull together a viable and inclusive opposition would seriously undermine rebel groups' efforts to secure weapons and money. Groups on Aleppo's frontlines told the Observer they had enough ammunition to hold their positions, but not enough to advance. "And there's a price to pay for that," one rebel commander, Abu Furat, said. "They will want their share of (the spoils). Aleppo remains in stalemate, with the frontline that splits the city from north to south not having meaningfully shifted since the late summer. Meanwhile, in Damascus, a large explosion on Saturday morning is believed to have killed up to 20 of the regime's troops.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As the dust settles and the president gets back to work, we are starting to learn what really happened on the campaign trail After the election come the backgrounders – thousands of words of meticulously reported (or briefed) explanations of what went miserably wrong or miraculously right. As some of the campaign's richer inside scenes and better kept secrets, here are some of the highlights... The Obama quantsBasically, the Obama campaign had a roomful of Nate Silvers, physically separated from the rest of its campaign operation and the precise nature of their work a closely held secret. That work was to determine the most efficient ways of raising and spending a mountain of money. Time's Michael Scherer got the inside view of Obama's futuristic analytics department: From the beginning, campaign manager Jim Messina had promised a totally different, metric-driven kind of campaign in which politics was the goal but political instincts might not be the means. 'We are going to measure every single thing in this campaign,' he said after taking the job. He hired an analytics department five times as large as that of the 2008 operation, with an official 'chief scientist' for the Chicago headquarters named Rayid Ghani, who in a previous life crunched huge data sets to, among other things, maximize the efficiency of supermarket sales promotions."
Obama's analytics team clinched 2012's consecration as the "nerdiest election in the history of the American Republic," as Spencer Ackerman deemed it. Romney on Benghazi: "We screwed up"
Mitt Romney felt sharp regret for what he came to see as his camp's botched response to the attack in Libya on the anniversary of 9/11. "I'm outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi," Romney said in a statement at the time. "It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks." After the statement was released, it emerged that US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans had been killed. President Obama reproached Romney for prematurely airing his criticism. It turns out Romney agreed. "We screwed up, guys," Romney told aides on a conference call the next morning, according to "multiple people on the call" interviewed by the Washington Post. "This is not good." The Post quotes a senior adviser describing Romney as "snake bit" by the incident, meaning the candidate was unwilling to criticize the president on Benghazi late in the campaign despite a full-court-press on the part of Fox News and the conservative grassroots to make it an issue. Those jobs numbers? They were better than reportedThe day after the Democrats wrapped up an energetic national convention, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report showing that 96,000 new jobs had been created in August, with unemployment falling from 8.3% to 8.1%. But actual job growth was much stronger. Subsequent revisions have put the number of jobs created in August at 192,000. An accurate jobs reading in early September could have given the Obama campaign an extra boost – though not necessarily one that would have survived the first debate. The Donald problem
The Romney campaign decided a Donald Trump endorsement was worth chasing, because it would translate to support from the base. Be careful what you wish for. BuzzFeed's McKay Coppins reported on the bozo ego babysitting that ensued:
By the time the deal was finally sealed, several of the campaign staffers in Boston had grown so sick of Trump's demands that they refused to deal with him anymore. "The task of keeping him happy, then, fell mainly to campaign press secretary Andrea Saul, a natural schmoozer with a disarming Georgia accent and an inordinate tolerance for BS. Trump's entourage called campaign headquarters constantly, eagerly passing along strategy ideas from their boss, and the calls were always patched through to Saul's office. Her desk became littered with Trump aides' business cards, and post-it notes reminding her to call them back. (Saul did not respond to BuzzFeed's request for comment.)"
Orca was not killerOrca was Romney's heavily hyped program to keep track of who was voting on election day and to reach out to people who weren't. It was supposed to be a revolutionary new system for getting out the vote. "Project Orca is the Republican Party's newest and most technologically advanced plan to win the 2012 presidential election," the Romney campaign boasted. "Thousands of volunteers have been trained and certified in order to legally be in the polling area." In fact, as attested by a first-person account by an Orca volunteer published on the site Ace of Spades and widely circulated, Orca was a shambles. Here's the volunteer, John Ekdahl, describing how his election day ended: By 2pm, I had completely given up. I finally got a hold of someone at around 1pm and I never heard back. From what I understand, the entire system crashed at around 4pm. I'm not sure if that's true, but it wouldn't surprise me. I decided to wait for my wife to get home from work to vote, which meant going very late (around 6:15pm). Here's the kicker, I never got a call to go out and vote. So, who the hell knows if that end of it was working either."
Politico's inspired nickname for Project Orca? Fail Whale. Obama got out the vote, and then someAgainst assumptions that Chicago would not be able to match its 2008 numbers, when excitement about Obama was at its apex, Democratic participation in battleground states appears to have matched or surpassed that of 2008. The New York Times reports: The power of this operation stunned Mr Romney's aides on election night, as they saw voters they never even knew existed turn out in places like Osceola County, Fla. 'It's one thing to say you are going to do it; it's another thing to actually get out there and do it,' said Brian Jones, a senior adviser."
'Tell him the door thing'A press-pool report from the day after the election quotes an Obama campaign official talking about the get-out-the-vote effort: In describing the ground game, the official told of a conversation he had with a top field director on Monday. The GOP had tweeted that they had knocked on 75,000 doors in Ohio the day prior. Not to worry, the director said, 'we knocked on 376,000.' "Then the president came in, and this aide said, 'Tell him the door thing.' So he did. And the president responded, 'That's my team.'"
Voter ID laws may have backfired
Ten major state laws requiring voters to show IDs that Democratic voters – coincidentally – are less likely to have were blocked in court, the Nation's Ari Berman notes. He theorizes that "a backlash against voter suppression laws could help explain why minority voter turnout increased in 2012". "We're still waiting on the data to confirm this theory," Berman writes, before continuing: I spent the weekend before the election in black churches in Cleveland, and there's no doubt in my mind that the GOP's push to curtail the rights of black voters made them even more motivated to cast a ballot. 'When they went after big mama's voting rights, they made all of us mad,' said Reverend Tony Minor, Ohio coordinator of the African American Ministers Leadership Council. According to CBS News: 'More African-Americans voted in Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida than in 2008.'
In Ohio, African-Americans, the president's strongest constituency, accounted for 15% of the electorate, up from 11% in 2008. Denver debate: Romney lay in wait for 'Happy Anniversary' line
Ohio senator Rob Portman, who played the president in debate practice with Romney, predicted that Obama would open with 20th anniversary wishes for Michelle. Accordingly, Romney practiced a witty response.
"Twenty years ago I became the luckiest man on the earth because Michelle Obama agreed to marry me," Obama said at the start of the 3 October debate. "And so, I just want to wish, sweetie, you happy anniversary." "Congratulations Mr President on your anniversary," Romney replied. "And I'm sure this was the most romantic place you could imagine – here with me!" The New York Times reports on the reaction to the moment in Romneyland: Mr Romney's advisers broke out in laughter when the real Mr Obama opened with a similar line, and nodded approvingly when a very prepared Mr Romney countered with a gracious response that even Democrats said put Mr Obama off balance."
How Mittmentum felt on the insideThe day after the Denver debate, Romney got caught in a traffic jam on the way to a rally in Virginia, the New York Times reports: "There was so much traffic that Mr Romney and his top advisers thought there must have been an accident. In fact, the roads were jammed with people on their way to see him." On conference calls in the final month of the campaign, advisers talked up the possibility of expanding the electoral map, Politico reports: There were a lot of Republicans who were on calls that the campaign was having, led to believe we had shots in Pennsylvania and Minnesota," one Republican operative supporting Romney said. "I think Republicans are split right now between confused and shocked, and also I think they are wondering did the Romney campaign have numbers we didn't have." In starker terms, the source questioned: "Was last week a head fake, or were they just not that smart?"
Read more here. Chicago's internal numbers hardly wavered
What looked on the outside like a roller coaster in the polls between the first debate on 3 October and the finish line on 6 November looked relatively flat – and good – to Obama campaign insiders. Politico's Roger Simon reports: [Obama pollster] Joel [Benenson]'s polling had not shown the spikes and valleys that the media narrative had said existed. There were good moments – the Democratic convention and Mitt Romney's remarks about how 47% of Americans thought they were victims who were entitled to such luxury items as food, housing and health care – but there were also bad moments like the first presidential debate. "But it wasn't volatile no matter what the [public] polls and chatter said," Joel said when I reached him backstage at McCormick Place before Obama made his victory speech. "The old model that says the undecideds will break for the challenger is no longer true. We knew we would get our share."
The moment Romney suddenly felt he would winRomney and vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan spent election day flying across the country, thanking volunteers and "leaving it all on the field", as they said. They were met with a great deal of enthusiasm. When they got off the plane in Moon Township, Pennsylvania (outside Pittsburgh), they were greeted by a large crowd overlooking the airport from a parking garage, in a moment captured by Romney personal aide Garrett Jackson: Seeing all those people crowding around to wish him well, Romney felt he would win, the Los Angeles Times' Maeve Reston reports: Intellectually, I've felt we're going to win this, and have felt that for some time, but emotionally just getting off the plane and… seeing people there cheering as they were connected emotionally with me — I not only think we're going to win intellectually, I feel it as well," Romney told reporters aboard his campaign plane later that night.
Election-night tearsAs one state after another fell to Obama, the mood inside the Romney camp went from confident to uneasy to despondent. The fall of Colorado was the last straw, CBS News' Jan Crawford reported: We just felt, 'where's our path?'" said a senior adviser. "There wasn't one."
Romney then said what they knew: it was over. His personal assistant, Garrett Jackson, called his counterpart on Mr. Obama's staff, Marvin Nicholson. "Is your boss available?" Jackson asked. Romney was stoic as he talked to the president, an aide said, but his wife Ann cried. Running mate Paul Ryan seemed genuinely shocked, the adviser said. Ryan's wife Janna also was shaken and cried softly. "There's nothing worse than when you think you're going to win, and you don't," said another adviser. "It was like a sucker punch."
Obama was like, we won already?
The president also expected to win, but he and his advisers were surprised at how quickly the night came together, the Washington Post reports:
Obama had arrived at the Fairmont Hotel, where his aides were staying on Tuesday night, but they did not expect him to be declared winner so soon. In fact, the president had not yet gathered with his aides; he was with his family in their suite on the 37th floor, with the staffers in another room, said one senior aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private moments."
Romney had to cancel a fireworks spectacularThe Boston Globe reports that Romney had planned to celebrate his election with an eight-minute fireworks display over Boston Harbor: A permit filed with the City of Boston said the detonation could occur any time between 7pm Tuesday, just after the first polls closed, and 12.30am Wednesday, which ended up being just before Romney conceded the race. Instead, Atlas Professional Fireworks Displays unloaded the pyrotechnics from mortars set up on a barge near the Bank of America Pavilion and carted them back to its headquarters in Jaffrey, NH"
Romney is no sulker...Michael Barbaro and Ashley Parker of the New York Times reported that the morning after losing the presidency, Romney faithfully appeared at a long-planned breakfast for major donors: As he wrapped up his remarks, Mr Romney became uncharacteristically emotional, according to attendees. He choked up as he talked about the friendships he made on the campaign trail and thanked his campaign staff members by name. A few of them wiped back tears of their own. "When he was finished, Mr Romney lingered for a long time, shaking hands and delivering hugs. "It seemed, those in the room said, like he did not want to leave. 'He stayed until the last person left,' said an attendee."
...and he's still payingNBC's Garrett Haake reported that some aides taking cabs home late on the night of the election found the credit cards linked to the campaign had already stopped working. But the Times' Barbaro reports that the Romney campaign is still paying employees, and that Romney himself ensured that they are paid severance through November: For now, Mr Romney has shown up at his campaign headquarters every day since the election, where he seems preoccupied with the futures of members of his campaign staff. He arranged for them to receive severance pay through the end of November. "His No1 priority, so far: establishing a system to organize the 400 résumés of those staff members whose paychecks will run out in 21 days."
Mitt Romney as tragic figureThere may be some temptation to see Romney as a tragic figure, robbed of his freedom to just be himself by a party held hostage to its extreme wing. Barbaro summarized this view Friday morning on Twitter: Romney feels the media mis-portrayed him; his friends feel the party mis-ran him. That was behind the scenes. In front of the cameras, in the public eye, for the last 18 months – no, the last six years – there was one person in charge of what Mitt Romney was saying. If the candidate went against himself, it's nobody's fault but his own.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Olivier Giroud and Dimitar Berbatov both scored twice and Mark Schwarzer saved an injury-time penalty from Mikel Arteta Preamble: Arsenal v Fulham could be the middle-class derby of football. A nice fixture. Real nice. For the next two hours, warm Carling will be replaced by 37 degrees fahrenheit Pinot Grigio, Pukka Pies by Waitrose ethical foie gras and good honest violence by excruciatingly transparent passive aggression. Actually, Arsenal and Fulham are two of the more likeable Premier League sides, partly because Arsene Wenger and Martin Jol are two of the few elite managers who still demonstrate discernible signs of humanity and decency. They have some very likeable players too, including Santi Cazorla and Dimitar Berbatov, the personification of sexy football and a man whose first touch is a unique fusion of velvet, velcro and viagra. Unusually, these sides come together as equals. Arsenal are seventh and Fulham eighth, with both on 15 points and both playing 4-3-3: four wins, three draws and three defeats. In a sense, however, their roles have been reversed. This season Arsenal, in the league at least, have had the binary anonymity of Roy Hodgson or Mark Hughes's Fulham. If you discount the six pieces of candy they took from Southampton, Arsenal have scored nine in nine league games, while their defence is the tightest in English football. Fulham, by contrast, are not unlike 2008-12 Arsenal, with plenty going in at both ends. That's often the way with any team managed by the wonderful Martin Jol, the Jeffrey Lebowski of world football. That's a bit of a rubbish ending to the preamble, isn't it? Between us, I can't think of anything else to write. Team news please! Team news Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Mannone; Sagna, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Vermaelen; Coquelin, Arteta; Walcott, Cazorla, Podolski; Giroud.
Subs: Szczesny, Andre Santos, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey, Arshavin,
Jenkinson, Chamakh. Fulham (4-2-3-1) Schwarzer; Riether, Hughes, Hangeland, Riise; Baird, Sidwell; Dejagah, Ruiz, Richardson; Berbatov.
Subs: Stockdale, Senderos, Petric, Karagounis, Duff, Rodallega, Kacaniklic. Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire) Emails please! Please. Seriously. 1 min After a minute's silence for Armistice Day, Dimitar Berbatov caresses the sphere towards Bryan Ruiz to signal the commencement of the contest. Fulham are playing from right to left. They are in white; Arsenal are in red and white. 2 min "Dearest, Rob," says Ian Copestake. "Can we please get through an entire Berbatov 90 minutes (or 60 mins before he is out of breath and taken off) without mentioning Gitanes? Thanks. What? Oh." 3 min "Jol is a preposterously prepossessing character, but Jeffery Lebowski?" says Phil Podolsky. "I was thinking more Caspar from Miller's Crossing who, unlike El Duderino, can be bothered to act ruthlessly when the situation calls for just that." Maybe. But he'd never slap his own kid and then say "Awwww somebody hit you?" or get in a tangle about ettics. 4 min It's been all Fulham so far, and Bryan Ruiz almost gives them the lead with a deflected shot from 20 yards that spins over Mannone and just wide. 6 min Arsenal's first spell of possession brings a free-kick when Theo Walcott, superstarter, is fouled by John Arne Riise. Nothing comes of it. It's been a good, open start to the game. A nice start. Real nice. 7 min Are there any Arsenal fans reading who want Wenger sacked? If so, let's hear it. 8 min "Ah, Berbatov," says Simon McMahon. "The Camus of English football. Can you post my favourite picture of him, the one where he is rolling a fag after eating a plate of full English dressed in his Man Utd club blazer and tie, with a glass of whisky at his side?" I'm afraid I don't have any photographs of your deviant dreams. But there is this beauty, which, as my brilliant colleague Georgina Turner said, is "drenched in lust". 10 min No real chances yet at either end. Berbatov looks lively. The joy of working from someone who rates and trusts you, eh? GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Fulham (Giroud 11) Walcott wins Arsenal's first corner – and it leads to the first goal. It was almost offensively straightforward. The corner was swung out by Walcott, and Giroud got away from Aaron Hughes to thump a near-post header through the left hand of Schwarzer from six yards. The inadequacies of man-to-man marking are exposed yet again. It was a good header but the defending from Hughes was awful. 13 min "Notice the pace of Arsenal's attack when Walcott is present," says Johnny G. "Allows for a player like Cazorla to open up the defense or for a player like Giroud to lumber into position." I'd still use Walcott as a substitute in a lot of games. Anyone who can terrorise Barcelona in that role must have something going for him. 15 min Given the power of some of his recent headers, particularly today's, it's fair to opine that Olivier Giroud is not a gentleman from whom one would like to receive a Glasgow kiss. 16 min Fulham have had most of the ball since the goal, and had much of it before the goal. Their away record against the big sides has been pretty appalling from the last few years, but the way they are playing suggests they think they can get something today. 19 min"So who are the other decent people among the elite managers," says Sam Abrahams, "and who's the nicest manager in the history of the Premier League?" Tony Mowbray maybe? He seems a very nice bloke. Jol of course. Wenger too, up to a point, although he was an awful loser, really undignified, until it became a semi-regular occurrence. David Moyes is a top man as well. 21 min Kieron Richardson sprints down the left and then pulls up in the manner of a man who has just done his hamstring. I reckon he might have done his hamstring. GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Fulham (Podolski 23) Arise Sir Arsene. All is well with Arsenal's world again, for the time being at least. A short throw-in from the right somehow slithered through to the onrushing Arteta on the right side of the box. He moved the ball away from Baird before squaring it across the six-yard line, where Podolski came from behind the ball-watching Riether to poke past Schwarzer. More poor defending in truth. 24 min Richardson has indeed done his hamstring – I told you! – and has been replaced by Alex Kacaniklic. 26 min "Roy Evans was a nice guy wasn't he?" says Gary Naylor. "Loved by Liverpool and Everton fans – but for different reasons I think." The perception of Evans is a little harsh. He got closer to the title than any other Liverpool manager in the last 20 years and Liverpool played their best football of the last 20 years under him. 28 min Apart from the fact they're 2-0 down, Fulham will be pleased with this half. Like, duh and all that, but they have actually played really well; they've just conceded sloppy goals. GOAL! Arsenal 2-1 Fulham (Berbatov 29) Fulham are back in the game. Ruiz swings in a left-footed corner from the right towards the head of Berbatov, six yards out in a central position, and he Berbatovs it past Mannone with the minimum of fuss. 30 min "Don't rate your MBM," says Alex Netherton. "If you were on Twitter I'd unfollow you." 31 min "I believe the photo Simon is talking about is at the top of the page here," says Jonathan Leeuwenburgh. Oh my, that is a very special picture. 32 min The hitherto quiet Cazorla is fouled just outside the left corner of the box. Theo Walcott lines up the free-kick ... and scuffs a piece of apologetic nonsense towards the near post that is easily cleared. 35 min "In terms of talent, can you (or your twos of other readers) think of a more disappointing player than Arshavin?" says Neill Brown. "Such a shame that he's become a bit-part player in what is clearly a fairly average team. He should be a star of this league." Dennis Bergkamp at Inter? Patrick Kluivert at Newcastle? Andres Iniesta? 37 min Usually football matches start very tight and stilted and get looser as they progress, like English people as they get drunk, but the first half of this game has had the feel of a second half. There haven't been many chances, but it has just felt open. GOAL! Arsenal 2-2 Fulham (Kacaniklic 40) Now this is Berbarotica. He – and I mean He – has just made an equaliser for Alex Kacaniklic in superb style. He ran down the right side of the penalty area onto a pass from Riether, leaving Koscielny in his slipstream. Then, with all the Arsenal players running desperately towards their own goal, he clipped a deliberate first-time cross behind them all, right on to the head of the unmarked Kacaniklic near the penalty spot. He planted his header into the ground, from where it kicked up to beat Mannone and go into the net off the inside of the far post. Berbatov spreads his arms wide and accepts the loving embrace of his teammates. He is simply magnificent. 42 min Sidwell is booked for a foul on someone or other. I missed it because I was still cleaning up the me attempting to describe that Kacaniklic goal. 45 min Vermaelen, the emergency left-back, hoofs a long cross straight out of play. 45+2 min Fulham almost went ahead in the last minute of added time. Ruiz played a stunning pass dwont eh left wing with the outside of the left foot. It came to Riise, whose low first-time cross towards the near post was flicked behind his standing leg by Dejagah. It wasn't going in, although Berbatov would have put it in at the far post had Koscielny (I think) not slid the ball behind. Half time: Arsenal 2-2 Dimitar Berbatov What an enjoyable half of football that was between two teams who think there is more to life than murderous ambition. Not that some of the Arsenal fans agree; they have just booed their side off the field. The age of entitlement strikes again. See you in 10 minutes. Half-time chit-chat "Arsenal fan here, I'm happy for Wenger to stay," says Angus Chisholm. "The Arsenal fans who want Wenger to go (and let's be frank here, many of them – not all, but many – are quite dim, as evinced by the dreadful comments on Arsenal's official facebook posts) suffer from small-picture thinking. Sure, a change might be invigorating, might mix things up a bit, but what is the viable alternative and how is it going to be implemented? How will the culture that Wenger has installed over the course of 16 years at the club cope with a sudden sacking? Are the 'lean times' we're going through now going to seem trivially irrelevant in the future when the club is steady thanks to the foresight with which the club appears to be run now? Just have a look at Liverpool in 2012 to see how things can go quite wrong quite quickly, and there's no shortage of viable clubs willing to occupy that perpetual Champions League qualification spot when Arsenal or whoever show the slightest sign of weakness, and there's every chance a Wenger sacking would lead to a decline, and there are just three places above us but 88 below us. So no. Bad idea." 46 min Arsenal kick off the second half from left to right. 47 min Here's the alternative view, from Zachary Gomperts-Mitchelson. "Until Arsene sold Alex Song, I felt he was probably still the man for the job. When we came out playing some fantastic football in the early season, dominating Liverpool and City at their places I felt it was very sad really cause Diaby's knees were always going to go. Arsene has become the sort of manager who doesn't even seem to understand his own system any more. We are set up for a mobile striker and certain amount of physicality in midfield to let our creative sorts work their magic. Now you see us playing like we are today, the players look completely unmotivated, our system is ridiculously easy to shackle, no one in midfield can beat a man through strength or tricks, there is no movement up front and we don't even get into good wide positions like we used to. "The players look very poorly drilled at the back, and for all the magnificent things Wenger has done for our club, he's finished. He looks like an absolutely drained shell. For that I blame our board and the arrogance in Wenger that made him think he could run the whole club, do everything in training and still move us forward, an it really was fantastic when he nearly succeeded. The setback in 07/08 when we should have won the league marked the end of our mental strength an since then, though we've had some good moments, including the Fabregas/Nasri team that probably should have won the league themselves we've always flattered to deceive. "As good as he was Wenger won't take us forward anymore, although I doubt a manager of Klopp or Guardiola's quality would want much to do with us at the moment considering the jobs that might be open to them." 48 min The second half has started like the first, with Fulham hogging the ball. Fulham have never won away to Arsenal; they have quite the opportunity today. 49 min "Is it just me or would anyone else find it incredibly disheartening to have your own team boo you off the pitch?" says Linda Howard. "I never understand; it seems like self-sabotage. That kind of reaction would send me headed straight for the hard liquor." Quite. On that note, there are unconfirmed reports that sales of alcohol to journalists have gone up 4895235298 per cent since comment sections were introduced. 51 min An outstanding right-wing cross from Walcott just clears the leaping Giroud, who would have had a fairly simple header from eight yards. Moments later Bryan Ruiz, teed up by Dejagah, screws a 20-yard shot wide of the near post. 52 min Berbatov has given Koscielny such a tough time today. Not just for skill and intelligence, but also for speed and strength, elements of his game that are strangely underappreciated. 55 min Arsenal are having a good spell of possession, with most of the threat down the right wing. That's where Walcott plays a crisp one-two before setting off on an angled, driving run infield. He beats three players on the way to the edge of the area, from where he curls a left-footed shot high and wide. 56 min Francis Coquelin is replaced by Aaron Ramsey. 59 min Another chance for Fulham. Berbatov puts Kacaniklic clear down the left. He gets into the area and pulls the ball across the face of goal, and it's cleared desperately before Dejagah can put it into the net. 60 min Sidwell fouls someone 25 yards from goal. He's already been booked but gets away with a final warning from Phil Dowd. Instead Aaron Ramsey is booked. Why? I have no idea why. Hope this helps! 61 min "This idea that a fan, or in this case Arsenal fans, who are often paying a substantial amount of their yearly income for season tickets due to their commitment to their club are banned from expressing dissatisfaction, when the team they are paying through the nose to see play, perform like this team does, is such a revoltingly disconnected bit of journalistic snobbery it could only come from the mouth of someone who views this whole thing from a very American perspective," says Zachary Gomperts-Mitchelson. "Arsenal aren't just a franchise that the boo'ers in the stadium have bought into for entertainment. My family live in Highbury and when we lost our season tickets due to price hikes, as our best players where sold and replaced with inferior replacements and our board members caught multimillion deals for their shares, I damn well felt like booing, I felt more disenfranchised and miserable then entitled." Sorry. I forgot that two grown adults aren't capable of having different opinions without one of them being revoltingly disconnected. 63 min Walcott's angled shot from the right of the box is deflected wide of the near post by Hangeland. Fulham are struggling to get out of their third, never mind their half. 65 min Ramsey, already booked, might have been given a second yellow card for a cynical tug on Sidwell. He was in the Fulham half but it was deliberate, the kind of football that often brings a yellow card. 66 min "Although Zachary G-M makes some very good points, the thing is Arsenal's woes aren't really down to Wenger: it's down, even more than it ever was, to money, and other people being able to flash it around even more," says Nick Lezard. "That said, if they lose to Fulham today I'll be round with my pitchfork and flaming brand, in spirit if not in actual physical presence." Wenger is an essentially decent human being trapped in a thoroughly repugnant sport. It's hard not to have a fair bit of sympathy for him. 66 min: PENALTY TO FULHAM Arteta, admiring his own shadow, is robbed on the corner of the box by Bryan Ruiz, who surges into the area and then falls over under Arteta's clumsy challenge from behind. GOAL! Arsenal 2-3 Fulham (Berbatov 67 pen) What a penalty from Berbatov. This was ludicrously, orgiastically nonchalant. He sauntered towards the ball, looked Mannone up and down and then gently Berbatoved the ball into the left side of the goal with Mannone standing still on the spot. Fulham have come from 2-0 down to lead! 69 min Half chances at both ends. Giroud, 20 yards out, smashes a bouncing ball straight at Schwarzer; then Riise forces a sprawling near-post save from Mannone. GOAL! Arsenal 3-3 Fulham (Giroud 69) Seven seconds after hitting the post, Olivier Giroud equalises for Arsenal. He dragged a left-footed shot across goal and onto the post, from where it rebounded to Walcott on the right of the box. He stood up a fine cross towards Giroud, six yards out, and he got enough flick and power on the ball to send it beyond the leaping Schwarzer's right hand. That was a very good header. 71 min A rising 20-yard shot from Ruiz is straight at Mannone but hit with enough power that he has to palm it over for a corner. 72 min Walcott has done some extremely good things today. Hashtagjustsayin'. 73 min This is anyone's game. Obviously. It was open at 0-0 in the first half. Now, at 3-3 in the second, it's you-attack-we-attack. 74 min "Say what you like about Arsenal (and plenty of people do), they're not boring," says David White. "The Emirates is expensive bit why does everyone correlate value for money with winning - what about entertainment? Is any other ground better value for money in terms of entertainment?" Craven Cottage. Every football team should be managed by Martin Jol. 76 min Koscielny makes a desperate and vital sliding challenge to stop Berbatov having a chance of his hat-trick. He was put through by an excellent angled pass from the left, and his shot back across the goal was superbly blocked by Koscielny. 77 min Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain replaces Lukas Podolski, who was almost entirely anonymous. Cazorla hasn't been great either. Giroud and Walcott have been Arsenal's best attackers by a distance. 80 min Giroud is denied his hat-trick by a fine save from Schwarzer. He picked the ball up 45 yards from goal, muscled his way to the edge of the D and then larruped a left-footed shot towards the bottom corner. Schwarzer dived to his left to push it behind for a corner with both hands. I thought Giroud was supposed to be crap? He's had a stormer. 82 min Theo Walcott is struggling with some injury or other. Former football Andriy Arshavin is getting ready to replace him. 83 min "Re: David White's comment in the 74th minute," says Robin White. "Yes, St Mary's. Just an awfully more masochistic form of entertainment." 85 min Fulham have their backs to the wall, and moulded into the wall in fact. They can't get out at all. This might help: Arshavin has replaced Walcott. I don't know if he's injured or just shattered; it's been seven months since he started two games in a week. Fulham have almost made a substitution, with Damien Duff replacing Ashkan Dejagah. 87 min "A word for Ruiz today?" says David Fallon. "His control, passing and simple use of the ball has been as if not more essential to Fulham's successes today. Even if he does use his first name on the jersey. Sacrilege." I've been lost in Berbatov but Ruiz has played beautifully, with the same languorous class of our Bulgarian hero. One outside-of-the-left-foot pass to Riise in the first half was stunning. 89 min Ruiz's chipped left-wing corner is headed just wide of the far post by Hangeland, although the man on the line had it covered. 90 min Giroud misses a fine chance to win the match. His own excellent movement meant that he was unmarked by the penalty spot as he ran backwards to meet Sagna's right-wing cross; he headed the ball back whence it came but got a bit too much on it and it went just wide. 90+2 min There will be four added minutes. An Arsenal corner is half cleared to Arteta, whose stinging volley from 20 yards is blocked by a defender. 90+3 min Baird chests Arshavin's cross behind for a corner. This is Arsenal's last chance. They don't score from it. PENALTY TO ARSENAL! This looks very harsh. Arshavin's cross hits Riether, who was barely two yards away and actually seemed to be trying to pull his arm out of the way. A pathetic decision. Baird is booked for protesting. Arteta will take the penalty. We're into the fifth of four added minutes. SCHWARZER SAVES ARTETA'S PENALTY! Jesus. That's the last touch of the game! Arteta sidefooted it all along the ground towards the left of Schwarzer, but it wasn't right in the corner and Schwarzer got down to push it round the post. It wasn't the greatest penalty; nor was it a shocker, though, and it was an excellent save from Schwarzer. It was a shocking decision, though, and it would have been so harsh on Fulham had they lost. Full time: Arsenal 3-3 Fulham In the grand scheme this game probably doesn't mean that much, but it was a whole load of fun. I'm off to change my name to Dimitar Berbatov. Night!
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Claudio Sciarpelletti has suspended jail term for aiding and abetting jailed papal butler Paolo Gabriele A Vatican computer expert found in possession of embarrassing documents about the Holy See has been handed a suspended two-month sentence following the jailing of the pope's butler for 18 months for stealing and leaking the pope's letters. Claudio Sciarpelletti, 48, an IT expert at the Vatican's secretariat of state, was tried for aiding and abetting papal butler Paolo Gabriele after Vatican police found an envelope of documents in his desk addressed to Gabriele. The documents contained allegations of conflicts of interest inside the Vatican police, claims which appeared in a book, Your Holiness, alongside letters Gabriele had smuggled out of the pope's office which lifted the lid on corruption allegations at the Vatican. In a legal twist, the Vatican court sentenced Sciarpelletti on Saturday for giving conflicting evidence to the police as they investigated Gabriele, rather than for concealing the documents, which were described as "of irrelevant value". Sciarpelleti first told police in May he had received the documents from Gabriele, then from Father Carlo Maria Polvani, his superior at the Vatican. But in court on Saturday Sciarpelletti said he received the envelope two years ago and could no longer recall who had given it to him, adding he had never looked inside it. Polvani is the nephew of Monsignor Carlo Maria Vigano, whose allegations about kickbacks in Vatican contracting were leaked and published in Your Holiness. Giving evidence on Saturday, Polvani denied he had given sensitive documents to Sciarpelletti, calling it "unthinkable", while Gabriele said he had supplied them. Polvani described Sciarpelletti and Gabriele as "great friends". One Vatican expert said the court's decision to define the documents as irrelevant showed it had "no interest" in discovering if other whisteblowers were at work in the Vatican. "The whole point was not to discover what were the connections of the people involved, and whether they had supporters, if not accomplices," said Marco Politi, author of Joseph Ratzinger, the crisis of a papacy. "It is just not credible that Sciarpelletti cannot remember who gave him the envelope," he said. In a separate development, the chances that Gabriele will receive a papal pardon have dimmed. At his sentencing on 6 October, a Vatican spokesman said there was a "concrete" chance the pope would use his absolute power at the Vatican to free Gabriele. But on 25 October, the secretariat of state issued a strongly worded statement claiming that Gabriele had "personally offended" the pope and "must undergo the period of detention decreed". The statement also said Gabriele's trial had showed "that plots, or the involvement of other people" in the leaks were "unfounded". Gabriele has previously claimed that up to 20 other Vatican staffers were leaking embarrassing documents and letters.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The alleged former boss of Boston's Irish-American mafia, accused of participating in 19 murders, is to be tried in June A federal judge on Friday agreed to delay the murder trial of former mobster James "Whitey" Bulger by three months, rejecting a defense request for eight months. U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns said he would put off Bulger's trial from March until June. He said jury selection will begin on June 6. Bulger's lawyer J.W. Carney Jr said he accepts the judge's decision and "we will do everything in our power to be ready for the June 6 trial date." The 83-year-old Bulger, who was hospitalized briefly after complaining of chest pains a few days ago at the prison where he has been awaiting trial, is known as the former leader of the Winter Hill Gang, Boston's Irish-American mafia. He's charged with participating in 19 murders. He fled Boston in late 1994 and remained a fugitive on the FBI's Most Wanted list until June 2011, when he was captured in Santa Monica, California, with his longtime girlfriend. Bulger has pleaded not guilty. Carney has said he will testify at trial about his claim that he was given immunity for his crimes by a federal prosecutor while he was an FBI informant on the Mafia. Carney has argued that the defense needs more time to review a huge volume of materials, including more than 364,000 documents, turned over by prosecutors in what he claims is a disorganized and redundant fashion. Assistant US Attorney Brian Kelly has accused Bulger and his attorneys of continually trying to stall the trial. The judge, in his ruling, said he tried to be fair to Bulger by giving his lawyers adequate time to prepare for trial while also being fair to prosecutors, the public and the families of the people who were killed. Bulger's girlfriend, Catherine Greig, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harbor a fugitive and identity fraud related to their time on the run. She was sentenced to eight years in prison and paid a $150,000 fine. Prosecutors say Bulger and Greig, who's in her early 60s, posed as married retirees from Chicago and had a stash of more than $800,000 in cash and dozens of weapons in their apartment when they were captured.
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• The latest scores from around Britain and Europe 1 min After a minute's silence for Armistice Day, Dimitar Berbatov caresses the sphere towards Bryan Ruiz to signal the commenacement of the contest. Fulham are playing from right to left. They are in white; Arsenal are in red and white. Emails please! Please. Seriously. Team news Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Mannone; Sagna, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Vermaelen; Coquelin, Arteta; Walcott, Cazorla, Podolski; Giroud.
Subs: Szczesny, Andre Santos, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey, Arshavin,
Jenkinson, Chamakh. Fulham (4-2-3-1) Schwarzer; Riether, Hughes, Hangeland, Riise; Baird, Sidwell; Dejagah, Ruiz, Richardson; Berbatov.
Subs: Stockdale, Senderos, Petric, Karagounis, Duff, Rodallega, Kacaniklic. Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire) Preamble: Arsenal v Fulham could be the middle-class derby of football. A nice fixture. Real nice. For the next two hours, warm Carling will be replaced by 37 degrees fahrenheit Pinot Grigio, Pukka Pies by Waitrose ethical foie gras and good honest violence by excruciatingly transparent passive aggression. Actually, Arsenal and Fulham are two of the more likeable Premier League sides, partly because Arsene Wenger and Martin Jol are two of the few elite managers who still demonstrate discernible signs of humanity and decency. They have some very likeable players too, including Santi Cazorla and Dimitar Berbatov, the personification of sexy football and a man whose first touch is a unique fusion of velvet, velcro and viagra. Unusually, these sides come together as equals. Arsenal are seventh and Fulham eighth, with both on 15 points and both playing 4-3-3: four wins, three draws and three defeats. In a sense, however, their roles have been reversed. This season Arsenal, in the league at least, have had the binary anonymity of Roy Hodgson or Mark Hughes's Fulham. If you discount the six pieces of candy they took from Southampton, Arsenal have scored nine in nine league games, while their defence is the tightest in English football. Fulham, by contrast, are not unlike 2008-12 Arsenal, with plenty going in at both ends. That's often the way with any team managed by the wonderful Martin Jol, the Jeffrey Lebowski of world football. That's a bit of a rubbish ending to the preamble, isn't it? Between us, I can't think of anything else to write. Team news please!
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Live video link used to relay testimonies in hearing to determine whether Staff Sgt Robert Bales will face court martial Stories of the massacre came, one by one, over a live video link from Afghanistan to a military courtroom outside Seattle: torched bodies, a son finding his wounded father, boys cowering behind a curtain while others screamed: "We are children! We are children!" As the Afghans recounted the horror that left 16 dead in the darkness early on 11 Marc, the US soldier accused of carrying out the rampage sat quietly in the courtroom. At one point, Staff Sgt Robert Bales moved closer to a large monitor showing the testimony. At other times, he watched as it played on a laptop screen in front of him. Either way, he gave no discernible reaction. Speaking through an interpreter, one Afghan closed his remarks with the words: "My request is to get justice." The hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord is meant to help determine whether Bales, 39, will face a court-martial over the deaths of the seven adults and nine children. He could face the death penalty if he is convicted. The father of two from Lake Tapps, Washington, has not entered a plea and was not expected to testify. His attorneys have not discussed the evidence, but say he has post-traumatic stress disorder and suffered a concussive head injury while serving in Iraq. The hearing, which began Monday, was held overnight Friday to accommodate the Afghan witnesses. They recounted the villagers who lived in the attacked compounds and listed the names of those killed, to provide a record of the lives lost. The bodies were buried quickly, under Islamic custom, and no forensic evidence was available to prove the number of victims. The youngest witness was Sadiquallah, a slight boy of about 13 or 14 whose head rose just above the back of the seat he was sitting in. He described being awakened by screams that an American had "killed our men". He said he and another boy ran to hide in a storage room and ducked behind a curtain. A bullet grazed his head and fractured his skull. Sadiquallah said the shooter had a gun and a light, but he could not identify the man. The other child was hit in the thigh and also survived. He is scheduled to testify Saturday night. As those two were hiding, Sadiquallah's older brother, Quadratullah, sought refuge with other children in a different part of the house. When the gunman found them, Quadratullah testified, the children scrambled, yelling: "We are children! We are children!" The boys' father, Haji Mohammed Naim, was the first person shot at the home. He testified that he was awoken by shots and dogs barking. He asked his wife to light a lantern, and saw the shooter climb over a compound wall. "He jumped from the wall, and I just saw the light on his head," Naim said. "He just started shooting me." Asked how close the gunman was to him when he was shot, the thick-bearded Naim gestured toward a water bottle on the table in front of him, less than an arm's length away: "He was as close as this bottle." One older son, Faizullah, recalled being awoken by someone telling him there had been a shooting at his father's compound. He rushed there to find his father with a gunshot wound to the throat. One of Naim's daughters was also wounded, as were two neighbor siblings. Faizullah said he loaded the wounded into a car, using a blanket to lift some of them. They were treated at a nearby base, then flown to a bigger military hospital in Kandahar. All five survived. Khamal Adin described the carnage at the second village, Najiban. The morning after the rampage, Adin said he arrived at a compound belonging to his cousin, Mohammed Wazir. Wazir had been away on a trip, and he found Wazir's mother lying dead in a doorway, a gunshot to her head. Further inside, Adin said, he found the bodies of six of his cousin's seven children, the man's wife, and other relatives. The fire that burned the bodies was out, but he said he could still smell smoke. When Adin began to testify, Bales moved from his seat to be closer to the courtroom monitor. Adin was asked if he could say he saw the bodies. He answered: "Yes. I have seen each individual and took them out by myself." Asked to describe the injuries, he said: "Everybody was shot on the head... I didn't pay attention to the rest of the wounds." Prosecutors say Bales broke his shooting rampage into two episodes, attacking one village, returning to the base and then departing to raid another. In between his attacks, he woke a fellow soldier, reported what he'd done and said he was headed out to kill more, the soldier testified. But the soldier didn't believe what Bales said, and went back to sleep. Dressed in green fatigues, two Afghan National Army guards recounted what they had seen in the pre-dawn darkness outside the base the night of the killings. One guard recounted that a man had arrived at the base and did not stop even after he asked him three times to do so. Later in the night, the second guard said, he saw a soldier leave the base, laughing as he went. They did not say the soldier was the same person; nor did they identify him as Bales.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | San Diego police have arrested Kassim Alhimidi over the murder of Shaima Alawadi in what was originally thought to have been a hate crime Eight months after an apparent hate crime involving the beating to death of an Iraqi-American woman drew international attention, the woman's husband has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Police in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon announced the arrest on Friday of Kassim Alhimidi, 48, and described the killing as an act of domestic violence. The March killing of 32-year-old Shaima Alawadi made waves around the world after the couple's 17-year-old daughter told reporters that she found a note by her mother's bludgeoned body that read: "Go back to your country, you terrorist." But the case took a wholly different direction on Thursday when Alhimidi was taken into custody after being called into the police station, said El Cajon Police Chief Jim Redman, who declined to comment on the evidence or elaborate on a possible motive. He said there were no other suspects. "Criminal investigations build, evidence builds, and you reach a point where you have enough evidence to move forward, and that's what happened in this case," he said. Alhimidi went to Iraq for about two weeks to bury his wife and returned voluntarily, Redman said. Police did not try to prevent him from leaving the country because he was not a suspect at the time. Kassim Alhimidi was publicly silent for six days after the body was found, while his children spoke often with reporters. In his first public remarks – made at a news conference at the family's mosque in Lakeside – he demanded to know what motivated the killer. "The main question we would like to ask is what are you getting out of this and why did you do it?" Alhimidi said in Arabic as his 15-year-old son translated. Charges against Alhimidi were expected to be filed on Tuesday. The killing shocked residents of El Cajon, an east San Diego suburb and home to one of the largest enclaves of Iraqi immigrants in the United States. Police initially said the threatening note meant they had to consider the killing a possible hate crime but stressed it was only one theory. They said there was other evidence and that the killing was an isolated case.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The clash between diehard conservatives and modernisers will dictate the fate of a party which increasingly seems to appeal only to angry, older white Americans The town of Pella, Iowa, looks an almost too perfect vision of smalltown America. Surrounded by a chessboard of prosperous farmland and with a bustling town square, lined with shops bearing the surnames of its first Dutch settlers, Pella feels like a throwback to a different age. But beneath its attractive exterior last week one could find some ugly sentiments on election day. "Obama is a Muslim," said Shirley Schutte, 75. Was she sure about that? "I am. I am not sure he even should have been there [in the White House]. He has been a disaster." Such a fervent belief is not typical of most Republican voters, whether in Pella or anywhere else in America. But it is not hard to find. One poll in Mississippi even found some 52% of likely Republican voters suspected President Barack Obama was a follower of Islam. Neither has the party leadership done too much to discourage equally outlandish ideas, such as Obama being born in Kenya. From business mogul Donald Trump to top elected officials, Republicans have carefully crafted a message of Obama as a radical "other" hoping to transform America in some dangerous way. Yet far from exiling Obama outside the US mainstream, many experts, now including leading conservative figures, believe the Republican party itself is being pushed into the political wilderness. The Republicans increasingly look like the party of angry, older white people. People like Schutte. And that does not work in America any more. As Republicans sifted through the wreckage of the Mitt Romney campaign, they saw collapsing popularity among fast-emerging ethnic groups, such as Hispanics, and key social demographics, such as young people. In an economy struggling with 7.9% unemployment, where more than half of voters believed the country was heading in the wrong direction and against an unpopular incumbent, the once fiercely effective Republican party machine only managed to craft a devastating defeat. Some say the reason is a simple failure to change in an America that is becoming less white and more socially liberal. "They look a lot more like a political party of the 1950s than a party of the 21st century," said Professor David Cohen, a political scientist at the University of Akron in Ohio. "They are at risk of being irrelevant." Some in the party know it. Even though the corpse of the defeated Romney campaign is still warm, a bitter fight has started to break out over its meaning in Republican ranks. On one side are the modernists, who understand that the party cannot afford to be seen as a backwards-looking ghetto for white voters. On the other are the nativists, angry at a crippled and ineffective immigration system, who believe that only a true message of pure conservatism will save the day. It is a battle for the soul of the Republican party and the first shots are being fired. "I think it is going to be a war. I really do," said Larry Haas, a political commentator and former aide in the Clinton White House. Last week the Romney campaign in the key swing state of Iowa held a "victory" party in the capital, Des Moines. Right in the American heartland, in the very state that gave birth to Obama's presidential ambitions in 2008, the great and good of the local Republican party gathered in a downtown hotel ballroom to celebrate their side's expected win. But shortly after the local TV station announced Obama had won Iowa – in the end by a hefty six percentage points – Fox News said that the White House also would remain in Democratic hands. The mood of the almost entirely white gathering of several hundred rapidly deflated. Some headed to the exits. One woman muttered angrily to her companion: "It is the dumbing down of America." This is the side of the Republican party that has dominated its internal politics for four years. It is a party that almost seems to exist in its own vacuum of rightwing thought. Infused with Tea Party radicals, it has backed hardline immigration laws in states such as Arizona that many Hispanics see as racist. It boasted two Senate candidates who made tone-deaf comments about rape that cost them otherwise easy victories. It is still male-dominated, yet finds time to take hardline ideological stances on female contraception and abortion. This is the party that appears implacably hostile to gay Americans even as last week four more states held ballots on gay marriage and all voted in favour. "Does social conservatism continue to be a albatross around the neck of the party?" said Professor Gerard Alexander of the conservative American Enterprise Institute. But it is not just social issues. On economics the Republican party plays host to a powerful and vocal wing of libertarians who wish to slash and burn government spending. They cling to a conservative world view that has forced previously extreme stances – such as abolishing the federal Department of Education and returning the dollar to the gold standard – into the heart of Republican thought. Not even the vast amount of cash that Republican big money operators poured into the 2012 race was able to have a major impact. Of the top 10 Senate candidates that political guru Karl Rove's American Crossroads group spent the most on, just one resulted in a Democratic defeat. Casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson backed eight candidates – including Romney – with around $60m over the whole election cycle. None of them won. To many observers, the Republicans are turning into a party that cannot win office. It has been dominated by the punditocracy of Fox News and the enormous influence of rightwing media stars such as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. It believes it does not need to change, but must maintain ideological purity and run a true conservative candidate. In Romney it sees the failure of a moderate who did not really believe the conservative values he had to espouse to win his party's nomination.They point out Obama's victory was built on a superior ground game, which turned out its base. They can even say Obama only beat Romney by 50% to 48% – a sliver that only grows large in the undemocratic electoral college. Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer has emerged as one of the leading lights of this message. "The answer to Romney's failure is not retreat, not apeing the Democrats' patchwork pandering," he thundered. "No whimpering. No whining. No reinvention when none is needed. Do conservatism, but do it better." Limbaugh was more blunt. "I went to bed last night thinking we're outnumbered. I went to bed last night thinking we'd lost the country," he told listeners as Romney went down. But perhaps Fox News host Bill O'Reilly – for many fans the very incarnation of the average white man – was the most blatant: "The white establishment is now the minority … it's not a traditional America any more." But many are lining up on the other side of the trenches. Indeed, even Krauthammer acknowledges the party has a serious problem with Hispanic voters, who now make up the fastest-growing part of the electorate and went for Obama by some 70%. These are people such as Texas senator Ted Cruz and Florida senator Marco Rubio, who has already announced his intention to visit Iowa this month, effectively firing the first shot of the 2016 campaign. They also include former Florida governor Jeb Bush, whose last name is still a political handicap but whose Hispanic wife, half-Hispanic children and fluent Spanish are a major asset to dragging Republicans out of their white corner. As such figures rise, and perhaps bring with them a greater sensitivity over issues such as immigration, they will strike a blow for the reformers and the party's makeup will come to better represent the wider American public. Yet it might not be that simple. In an economy still struggling with high joblessness and the threat of renewed recession still looming, convincing some of the party's stressed base might not be easy. "The backroom people in the party look at the numbers and know they have a problem. But it is another thing to convince the base," said Professor Shaun Bowler, a political scientist at the University of California at Riverside. Neither is it as easy as just shifting the ethnic tone of the party's public image. Many Republican activists say that Hispanics – who often display a strong social conservatism around Roman Catholicism – should find a natural home in the party. However, many also bring with them a profoundly different sense of the role of government. The hostility many in the Republican party express towards government programmes can be just as off-putting to many Hispanic voters as their opposition to abortion and gay marriage might be attractive. It is not likely to be an easy process. Some believe Romney came close enough to victory to allow an even fight in the coming Republican civil war and thus ensure a protracted and painful debate that will stretch on for years. What the party really needed, some think, was to have nominated a died-in-the-wool ultra-conservative in 2012 such as Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich who could have led the party to an overwhelming defeat, forcing the reformist wing to triumph. But the selection of Romney denied them that piece of creative destruction, even though the party has now lost the popular vote tally in five of the last six presidential elections. "They are still maybe at the early stages of denial," Bowler said. Democrats are largely celebrating the prospect of this fight. The glee among the liberal left has been unrestrained, ranging from serious political pundits, such as MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and film-maker Michael Moore, to the viral popularity of an internet site showing photographs of sad Republicans on election night called "White People Mourning Romney". The Democrats, in fact, are licking their lips at the prospect of the next four years. Obama's brilliant strategists have created a highly effective coalition of minorities, younger women voters and urban educated people. They eked out an election win in the most trying of economic circumstances by getting those people to the polls. But some people think the Democrats also have a problem. Obama lost the white vote in America by some 20 points, and perhaps that should not be ignored. "It is not good to lose the white vote by that margin," said Haas. "This election was visionless on both sides, it was just about stitching together enough votes to get to the top." The Republicans may be about to have a civil war over their future but the Democrats also have their issues when it comes to the full spectrum of America's broad and diverse electorate. When any political system fights over identity politics rather than actual ideas, no one really wins.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | George Sabra says western powers need to be true to their word and give rebels aid and support against Assad regime The newly elected leader of Syria's main opposition bloc has said that the international community should support those trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad's regime without any conditions and not link aid to an overhaul of the opposition leadership. George Sabra, head of the Syrian National Council, said he and other opposition figures are disappointed with foreign backers. "Unfortunately, we get nothing from them, except some statements, some encouragement" while Assad's allies "give the regime everything," Sabra told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a weeklong SNC conference in the Qatari capital of Doha. He said the Syrian opposition needs hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and weapons to defeat regime forces. Sabra, 65, was heading an SNC delegation on Saturday in talks with rival opposition groups on forging a new, broader opposition leadership group –an idea promoted by western and Arab backers of those trying to oust Assad. The SNC has been reluctant to join such a group, fearing it would lose influence within a larger platform. Senior SNC figures suggested Saturday's meeting would be the start of several days of negotiations over the size and mission of such a group. They said they are willing to join a larger group, but that the details need to be worked out carefully. The author of the plan, veteran dissident Riad Seif, has said the international community would quickly recognise a unified group and use it as a conduit for billions of dollars in aid to the uprising against Assad. The outcome of the talks will be crucial not just for the SNC, an Istanbul-based group widely seen as out of touch with activists on the ground and fighters dying on the battlefields in Syria, but also for the future of the entire opposition. Sabra acknowledged that some of the criticism of the SNC was justified, but said that this should not serve as an excuse to hold up international aid. "Don't hang (your) delay to provide Syrians what they need, what they want, on the neck of the opposition," he said. "Let's say, we have our responsibility, no doubt about that, and we will carry this responsibility, but we need from the international community to carry their responsibility also," he said. Sabra, a Christian and leftwing veteran dissident, spent eight years in Syrian jails in the 1980s and 1990s. He was jailed twice after the outbreak of the uprising against Assad in March 2011, and fled to Jordan on foot in the fall of 2011 to avoid further detention. Meanwhile, Two explosions set off by a pair of suicide bombers shook a the city of Deraa on Saturday, killing and wounding dozens of government troops, an activist group said. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, said the early morning blasts in Deraa targeted an encampment for government troops in the city. The Observatory said the explosions were followed by clashes between regime forces and rebels fighting to topple Assad. The state-run news agency Sana said the blasts caused multiple casualties and heavy material damage, but did not provide further details. Rami Abdul-Rahman, the Observatory's head, said at least 20 soldiers were killed in Saturday's twin blasts, but the claim could not be independently verified. The targeted area is considered a security zone that houses a branch of the country's military intelligence as well as an officer's club where dozens of regime forces are based.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A Turkish military helicopter carrying soldiers on a mission against Kurdish rebels crashed in heavy fog A Turkish military helicopter carrying soldiers on a mission against Kurdish rebels crashed because of bad weather on Saturday, killing all 17 troops onboard, officials said. Thirteen soldiers and four military crewmembers were killed in the crash in a mountainous part of Pervari district in Siirt province, in south-eastern Turkey, where the rebel Kurdistan Worker's party is fighting for self-rule. President Abdullah Gul said the soldiers were on their way "to help their friends" in an operation against the rebels who have escalated attacks in recent months, adding the incident would not deter Turkey from its determination to fight the rebels. The provincial governor, Ahmet Aydin, blamed the crash on heavy fog and ruled out an attack by the rebel group. "The weather during the transportation (of troops) was bad. There was extreme rain. The helicopter crashed into rocks because of the fog," Aydin said in televised statements. "The incident was the result of a crash and any kind of an attack is out of the question." The Kurdish rebels have been fighting since the 1980s and they seek more rights for Kurds, including autonomy in the mostly Kurdish south-east. Turkey and its western allies categorise the rebels, known by the acronym PKK, as a terrorist group. On Friday, the office for the governor for the nearby province of Hakkari said as many as 42 Kurdish rebels had been killed in the past three days in operations that were backed by airpower. It made no mention of any casualties among troops.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Violence erupted at Welikada prison in Colombo when officers were searching the jail for drugs and illegal mobile phones At least 27 people were killed and a senior police officer seriously wounded when a gunfight broke out in Sri Lanka's biggest prison which began when police came under fire from inmates, officials and police said on Saturday. The army brought the violence under control before dawn and freed staff held hostage at the Welikada prison in the capital Colombo, jail officials and military said. Prisons minister Chandrasiri Gajadeera told parliament 27 people had been confirmed dead. The violence erupted when officers from the Special Task Force (STF), Sri Lanka's elite police commandoes, were searching the jail for drugs and illegal mobile phones. "When they were coming out, prisoners started to attack them with stones. The STF used teargas and the prisoners fired at the STF," police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody said. Witnesses said they saw police shooting towards the jail, where armed prisoners were on the roof during the clash. Prisons commissioner P. W. Kodippili said the prisoners had obtained the weapons - some of them machine guns - by breaking into the prison armoury. "The search operations are continuing to clear the place and recover the weapons and also to find the escapees," he said. Army spokesman brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said a large number of weapons were found along with six bodies during the search operation. The commanding officer of the elite police force that had come under attack was in intensive care, the head of Colombo national hospital said. "We've got 59 injured and 51 are still taking treatments and 16 are dead bodies," an official said. The jail has about 4,500 inmates, including members of the former defeated Tamil rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) movement that fought a protracted war of independence, ending in 2009, but officials said it was unclear how many, if any, of them had been involved in the uprising. "We don't know who is involved in this, I don't think any LTTE suspects are involved but I don't know," Commissioner Kodippili said. Kodippili also said the officials are taking the count of inmates to find out how many escaped. "We don't know exactly how many have escaped now we are taking the count," Kodippili said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Newsnight apologises for implicating Conservative peer and suspends all investigations The BBC said that it was suspending all Newsnight investigations after the programme's accusations that a "leading Conservative" had been involved in child abuse unravelled, with the programme's star witness admitting hours earlier that he had mistaken the peer's identity. The broadcaster, which is still coping with the fallout from the shelving of a Newsnight investigation into Jimmy Savile, also apologised unreservedly as a senior executive was parachuted in to supervise Friday's edition of the programme, on which the question of its own continuing survival was raised by presenter Eddie Mair. Steve Hewlett, a Guardian columnist and BBC Radio 4 journalist, also claimed the BBC had investigated Steve Messham, who made the claims about the Tory peer, Lord McAlpine, on at least two separate occasions "and found them wanting". It also emerged earlier on Friday that the BBC decided it was not appropriate to contact McAlpine, a former treasurer of the Tory party, for a right of reply on Friday of last week because it had no intention of naming him in the Newsnight film. It opted instead to accuse a "leading politician of the Thatcher years" of being involved in child sexual abuse linked to care homes in North Wales. However, the accuracy of Newsnight's claims collapsed after the Guardian had suggested that McAlpine was a victim of "mistaken identity". The director general of the BBC, George Entwistle, appointed a senior news executive Fran Unsworth, head of BBC Newsgathering, to supervise Friday night's programme, which carried a full apology. Referring to its Newsnight programme on 2 November, in which Messham, a former resident of North Wales care homes, appeared and said he had been abused by a political figure, the statement said: "We broadcast Mr Messham's claim but did not identify the individual concerned. Mr Messham has tonight made a statement that makes clear he wrongly identified his abuser and has apologised. We also apologise unreservedly for having broadcast this report." Entwistle also ordered an immediate suspension of all Newsnight investigations to assess editorial robustness and supervision, a suspension of all co-productions with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism across the BBC, and that Ken MacQuarrie, director of BBC Scotland, will write an urgent report, covering what happened on the investigation into the North Wales children's home scandal. Friday night's Newsnight was presented by Mair, who normally presents BBC Radio 4's PM, but who has been standing in for more regular anchors such as Jeremy Paxman and Kirsty Wark in recent times. Looking uncomfortable throughout, Mair told viewers: "Obviously we wanted to ask questions of the BBC but no one was available for interview." However, the most poignant moment came when he was interviewing Rob Wilson, a Tory MP on the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, who momentarily said that he could not hear what he was being asked. "Oh great. Now not even the sound is working. The journalism is not working," replied Mair, who also later asked Wilson "Is Newsnight toast?" As well as carrying the recorded comments from Messham and McAlpine's lawyer, the programme included a panel discussion which the BBC press office said had been due to be part of the programme. On Friday, McAlpine issued a strongly-worded statement saying reports linking him to allegations of abuse at a North Wales children's home were "wholly false and seriously defamatory". As questions mounted about the veracity of the allegations, Messham admitted he was wrong. Making a public statement of apology, he said he had accused the wrong person: "I want to offer my sincere and humble apologies to him [McAlpine] and his family. After seeing a picture in the past hour of the individual concerned, this is not the person I identified by a photograph presented to me by the police in the early 1990s, who told me the man in the photograph was Lord McAlpine." Earlier, McAlpine's solicitor said he had "no choice" but to take legal action. Andrew Reid told BBC Radio 4's PM programme: "What I think is so wrong is that Newsnight trailed this and encouraged people that some major revelation would come about and that they were going to name someone. "Then they took the coward's way out, they ran the programme, then told everyone where to go to find [McAlpine's name in connection with the allegations]. That's creating the defamation." Newsnight is already under fire for failing to broadcast a previous investigation into child sexual abuse perpetrated by Jimmy Savile – with its editor, Peter Rippon, obliged to step aside after making erroneous claims as to why he chose to abort the story. Against that backdrop, Newsnight's most recent investigation into child sexual abuse was keenly anticipated as providing an opportunity to make amends. Organised in conjunction with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, information about Newsnight's film of last week leaked out the day of transmission when Iain Overton, the editor of the bureau tweeted: "If all goes well we've got a Newsnight out tonight about a very senior political figure who is a paedophile." The bureau's Angus Stickler, a former BBC journalist, had persuaded Newsnight to put out the film he was preparing. Had Newsnight successfully contacted the peer ahead of transmitting the film, it might have been given McAlpine's denials. Journalist Michael Crick, of Channel 4 News, who became aware of Newsnight's investigation, spoke to the peer twice on 2 November – the day of transmission – and was told that McAlpine was prepared to sue the BBC, had he been named. It is understood that the production team at Newsnight had been told in confidence by Messham that McAlpine was the man he was referring to. The production team, was headed by acting editor Liz Gibbons, and overseen by Adrian van Klaveren, the controller of Radio 5 Live, on secondment to oversee any coverage relating to Savile and child sexual abuse more generally. Despite the secrecy at the BBC, the name of McAlpine swiftly began circulating on the internet. The peer had previously been linked to allegations of abuse at care homes in North Wales, but several reporters who covered the Waterhouse public inquiry that examined the claims were sceptical of the link. The Guardian reported that McAlpine was a victim of "mistaken identity" – creating the first doubts about the accuracy of the Newsnight investigation. On Friday McAlpine repeated details that he had shared with Crick a week ago, stating that he had only ever visited Wrexham once in his life. There was also criticism of people who had named McAlpine on Twitter, including the Guardian columnist George Monbiot, who has since apologised. The journalist admitted it was "stupid" of him to have named McAlpine during a week of fevered internet speculation.
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