|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The organisers of the Academy Awards are po-faced about comedy, so a dose of screwball humanism is just what they need "Imagine there's no heaven," sang John Lennon. "It's easy if you try."
OK, let's. Imagine a world with no Marx Brothers films, no Ginger Rogers or Fred Astaire. A world in which Cary Grant was never born and Preston Sturges is just a rumor. Dutifully, the populace trudge beneath skies the color of porridge towards box-like movie theatres, where they consume their weekly dollop of gloom, as served up in with movies like A Life of Emile Zola, Marty and Crash. In this alternative universe, movie-going is a bit like going to the dentist, only without the laughing gas. Films that stand any chance of raising a smile have been expunged from the records, although you will occasionally hear talk among those old enough to remember of something called Some Like It Hot, and – even more mythic – Bringing up Baby. But it is quickly shushed by those with wiser heads. It only leads to trouble. Best forget. Come, eat your gruel, chilluns. Before the rats come. Actually you don't have to try too hard. This vale of sorrow is the version of movie history as reconstructed entirely from past Oscar winners. The academy's prejudice against comedy is well-known and long-standing, the exceptions coming about once a generation: It Happened One Night in 1934, The Apartment in 1961, Annie Hall in 1978. "It's been like five times in a zillion years that [a comedy]'s won Best Picture," Judd Apatow complained last year, after Bridesmaids failed to gain even a nomination, squeezed out by the likes of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, an inferior film by just about every sane or reasonable measure for sorting good movies from bad. So David O Russell's Silver Linings Playbook, which goes into wide release this week, will face an uphill climb at the Oscars, despite constituting the one of the most exuberant, humane and sustained feats of direction by an American in 2012. It's not a director's film in the common sense of that term – there are no battles, or thousands of extras, or virtuoso editing sequences – but equally, it could have come from no other man but Russell, who has had a hard slog back to favor after a string of films – Spanking the Monkey, Flirting with Disaster, Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees – left him with reputation for volatility bordering on the radioactive. Six years and one abortive project later, Russell showed up with The Fighter, his abrasive manner tempered by some compassion both onscreen and off. The film won an Oscar for Melissa Leo. Russell's method in Silver Linings Playbook is much the same as it was in The Fighter. Take a bunch of characters – a bipolar divorcee played by Bradley Cooper, a cop's widow played by Jennifer Lawrence – then pile on some more (a father and fanatical Eagles fan played by Robert De Niro) and then, just when you think the scene can take no more, throw in a shrink or a cop for good measure. Then watch the whole thing teeter in the breeze, everyone shouting and fighting and weeping, and shake it to see what truths fall out. As De Niro told the New York Times: David has a very unusual style of directing. You've got the camera moving around, he'll push the camera over to this character, to that character, he'll throw lines at you and you repeat them… It's a particular way of working and gets right to it and it's spontaneous. You just have to go with it. He understands that whole chaotic thing. It's part of his – I don't want to say meshugas, but maybe it is. It's his craziness. But a lovable craziness.
The result is a kind of screwball humanism, rowdy and rich with risk. "Like a singer who quavers tauntingly, thrillingly close to going off-key" said Manohla Dargis, "the movie has the sting of life." Unfortunately, it also happens to be wildly entertaining. The premise of the Oscars being to keep in place the fig-leaf of denial that Hollywood is even in the entertainment business, the film faces something of an uphill climb at least least as far as Best Picture and Best Director are concerned. Yes it has Harvey Weinstein's backing and Harvey won before with Shakespeare in Love (in 1999), but that was the Academy's one and only shot at giving an award to anything brushed with the creative molecules of William Shakespeare. Yes, there's some stuff about being bipolar and meds and sex addiction, but the script would have to pull a much longer face about these things to start to see the benefits accrue. The Academy's fear of comedy comes from the source of all philistinism: a deep fear of being thought philistine. As the comedian Jima Piazza has written: Hollywood was the invention of fist-in-your-face immigrant tycoons who, for all their sudden wealth, couldn't get past the gates of Newport and Palm Beach. The Academy Awards became their pitch-imperfect bid for respectability. Pratfalls, cream pies and wisecracking dames may have paid for the Beverly Hills knockoff Versailles with the polo ponies in the backyard, but they weren't quite up to snuff for front-room company. That was reserved for important pictures with high ideals that made you drowsy enough to think you were sitting with all the swells in Carnegie Hall.
Despite their bad rap, the Golden Globes are not so afflicted. The true scandal about the Golden Globes is not that they are handed out by a bunch of star-struck, scandal-ridden foreign hacks with lucrative sidelines in the world of hairdressing and personal fitness. The great scandal is that a bunch of star-struck, scandal-ridden foreign hacks with lucrative sidelines in the world of hairdressing and personal fitness have consistently shown far finer taste when it comes to good acting than the 6,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The Globes consistently reward performers while the sap is still rising in their veins, before they have had all the fun stewed out of them in a bid for respectability. They gave an award to Nicole Kidman for her frisky, star-making turn in To Die For, rather than wait for her to don a false nose in the droopy The Hours; they gave one to Tom Hanks for his virtuoso turn in Big, years before Forrest Gump; to Julia Roberts for Pretty Woman, not Erin Brockovich; to George Clooney in Oh Brother Where Art Thou, not the interminable Syriana. Oh, and they gave a Globe to Bill Murray for Lost in Translation. Murray has yet to receive an Oscar. I rest my case.
Given all this, why – you might ask – is Jennifer Lawrence the front-runner in the race for the Best Actress Oscar, a position she has held since July, seeing off threats from Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild, Marion Cotillard in Rust and Bone, Kiera Knightley in Anna Karenina, Helen Mirren in Hitchcock and Emmanuelle Riva in Amour? Of the Great Unseen she has only Jessica Chastain, in Zero Dark Thirty, left to fear – if Lawrence even knows that emotion. It seems unlikely, given her performances in Winter's Bone and The Hunger Games, and that Russell recently called her "one of the least neurotic people I know". The scene in Silver Linings Playbook in which Lawrence walks into a room containing a fire-breathing De Niro – and within two minutes has the master of Method eating out of her hand – could well seal the deal all on its own. Nor will it hurt that she plays a cop's widow, clad alternately in Goth gear and figure-hugging lycra, who has recently lost her job for sleeping with everyone – everyone – at her office: "Yes, I'm Tommy's crazy whore widow minus the whore thing sometimes." The Academy are old goats for young actresses playing tarty, admittedly more in the supporting actress category – see Marisa Tomei's win for My Cousin Vinny in 1992 and Mira Sorvino's for Mighty Aphrodite in 1995. Lawrence is also only 22, but Best Actress is skewing younger these days, she's riding the tail of a huge blockbuster (The Hunger Games), and most importantly of all, her performance covers new ground: "It's Lawrence who knocked me sideways," said David Edelstein. "I loved her in Winter's Bone and The Hunger Games but she's very young – I didn't think she had this kind of deep-toned, layered weirdness in her." The other race in which Russell's film could show a burst of speed is Best Supporting Actor: De Niro's Eagles-Fan father, so obsessive-compulsive about possible jinxes he has a meltdown when anyone touches his TV remote control, is easily the best work the actor has done in over a decade, a thrilling fusion of the broad-brush cantankerousness he took for a walk in Meet The Parents and the filigree neuroses that veined Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy in 1983. Of the others in the Best Supporting Actor field – the as yet unseen Leonardo Di Caprio in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained; Alan Arkin coasting on auto-grump in Argo; Phillip Seymour Hoffman cutting a Wellesean dash in The Master; Tommy Lee Jones bawling out racists, baroquely, in Lincoln – I would guess that Jones is De Niro's stiffest competition. But the Academy make a point of checking in with the greats (Streep, Nicholson) at various stages of their careers. De Niro may be old enough, and grey enough to merit such institutionalization. Call it the "When Did You Last Call Your Grandfather?" vote.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Avelino Tajonera, 49, dies from injuries sustained in fire on 16 November as three other men remain in hospital A man who suffered critical burns after a rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico has died in hospital, becoming the second confirmed victim of the blaze. The Philippine ambassador said in a news release that 49-year-old Avelino Tajonera succumbed to his injuries on Friday, shortly after his wife and three children arrived from Manila. Three other men remain hospitalized following the fire of 16 November on the offshore platform owned by Black Elk Energy. The fire is known to have killed 42-year-old Ellroy Corporal, whose body was discovered last weekend. The search for a third employee, 28-year-old Jerome Malagapo, was called off a few days ago. The embassy quotes Consul General Herrera-Lim as saying three Filipino workers who survived the fire are back in Manila after giving statements to federal authorities. The ambassador said Corporal's body would be returned to the Philippines on Tuesday.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Justices will decide next week whether to consider the constitutionality of same-sex marriage The nine judges of the US Supreme Court will decide next week whether to consider the constitutionality of same-sex marriage – a keenly awaited choice that will have far-reaching implications for thousands of legally married gay couples across the United States. Activists are hoping that shifting public opinion on the issue, most recently demonstrated by election-day victories in all four states where same sex-marriage measures were on the ballot, will convince the judges to take on the issue. Up for decision is a set of cases relating to the Defense of Marriage Act (Doma), a 1996 law which states that every time any federal law refers to marriage, it means only that between a man and a woman. Same-sex couples who are legally married in one of nine states or Washington DC are thus denied the benefits or opportunities afforded by marriage to opposite-sex couples. Five federal courts have ruled that Doma is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court could decide to take on one or more of these cases. The judges will also decide whether to consider an appeal from supporters of California's Proposition 8, a voter-approved amendment to the state constitution which seeks to ban same-sex marriage. Another petition before the justices relates to the state of Arizona, which is seeking to revive a state law that is similar to Doma. Four Supreme Court justices must agree a case in order for the court to take it. They can take up all of the measures before them, none of them or some. The justices are expected to announce a decision on 30 November. Advocates of marriage equality are hoping that the tide of public opinion that has been demonstrated by polls over this year will persuade the justices to strike down Doma. Last year, the Obama administration decided not to defend the law in court, believing it to be unconstitutional. Brian Moulton, legal director of Human Rights Watch, a marriage-equality group, said that the election-night victories had underlined the need for a Supreme Court decision on Doma, because of the growing number of couples who will be affected by a federal law that discriminates against them. Moulton said: "The number of couples who are married at the state level who will not be recognised because of Doma will get bigger and bigger, so the scope of the problem will grow. That might influence the question of whether to resolve the issue." He said he was optimistic that the judges would decided to take up the issue: "The justices are people as well and they read the newspapers. That gives them a sense of where the country is going on these issues." Two of the Doma cases, both brought against the federal office of personnel management, relate to the denial of healthcare benefits to same-sex spouses. Gill v United States Office of Personnel Management is from the First Circuit in Boston and Golinski v OPM is from the Ninth Circuit. In each of these cases, the Court of Appeal held that Doma violated equal protection rights. Gill was considered with another Doma case, Massachusetts v United States Department of Health and Human Services, in which the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Doma's denial of federal recognition to lawfully-married same-sex couples violated the US constitution's guarantee of equal protection of the laws. The Supreme Court is widely expected to take one of the cases, but predicting an outcome is difficult. If, for instance, the Supreme Court declines to take the Gill and Massachusetts cases, the First Circuit decision would stand. However, it would apply only to the states in that Circuit – Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Douglas Nejaime, an associate professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said Doma was important but pointed out that it does not have wider implications for states where same-sex marriage is illegal. Nejaime said: "The reason that the popular vote on election night figures into this is it shows the court that more states are recognising same-sex marriage. If they overturn Doma it just means that those couples will be recognised federally. It wouldn't have any impact on states where they don't recognise same-sex marriage." More controversial, he said, was the question of whether the justices decide to take on Proposition 8. It is exclusive to California, so it is less likely the justices will take it up. Both a federal trial court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals have ruled Proposition 8 unconstitutional. However, the Ninth Circuit found that it was the unique circumstances of California that made adopting Proposition 8 a violation of the US constitution. If, as many predict, the justices decline to consider an appeal from supporters of Proposition 8, same-sex couples would again be permitted to marry in California, as was the case for a few months in 2008 before the passage of the proposition. Because of the size of the state, such a decision would at a stroke dramatically boost the number of gay couples in the nation who would be able to legally marry. Nejaime said that the court had several options regarding Proposition 8, including upholding it along the narrow focus of the Ninth Circuit ruling. "If they went behind the Ninth Circuit, we would only have same-sex marriage in states that already have domestic partnerships or civil union. The broadest ruling would be to say all of the states where same-sex marriage is not allowed is unconstitutional – but I don't think the court is ready to go there." If the justices decide not to take the case, California could begin issuing marriage licences within days. Wendy Goffe, a lawyer in Seattle who has written on the issue, also believes that the justices will decline the Proposition 8 case. Goffe said: "I'm not convinced they would take it because the Supreme Court [is] very much in support of state rights." Citing the decision by the Supreme Court in January to uphold controversial parts of an immigration law in Arizona, she said: "If you look at the Arizona decision – where they took that and upheld the case and that is a terrible law, but they said it's not our place to mix in with the state. The only way they might pick up Prop 8 is if they make a decision to take all the cases before it. But that would lead to a big mess. It could take decades."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Retail giant Walmart hit by protests and staff walkouts on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day in the retail calendar Retail giant Walmart has been hit by protests and staff walkouts at stores across the US on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day in the retail calendar. The actions began Thursday, as workers protested the retail giant's decision to open on Thanksgiving, which is traditionally a national holiday. Industrial action continued Friday, with organisers claiming 1,000 protests in 46 states. Walmart workers in Miami, Dallas, Wisconsin, California's Bay Area, Chicago and Washington DC took part in the walk out, protesting wages and work conditions. The demonstrations were co-ordinated by OUR Walmart, a workers' group that last month led the first strikes that the retail giant had experienced. Walmart countered that it had had its best Black Friday ever and that the majority of protesters were not Walmart workers. "Only 26 protests occurred at stores last night and many of them did not include any Walmart associates," said Bill Simon, Walmart's US president and chief executive officer. "We had very safe and successful Black Friday events at our stores across the country and heard overwhelmingly positive feedback from our customers," Simon said. He added that the retailer estimated less than 50 Walmart workers had taken part in the protests. "In fact, this year, roughly the same number of associates missed their scheduled shift as last year," Simon said. But protesters disputed the retailer's numbers and said "hundreds" of workers were taking action, and that this was just the beginning. "Walmart has spent the last 50 years pushing its way on workers and communities," said Mary Pat Tifft, an OUR Walmart member and 24-year associate who led a protest on Thursday evening in Kenosha, Wisconsin. "In just one year, leaders of OUR Walmart and Warehouse Workers United have begun to prove that change is coming to the world's largest employer." "Our voices are being heard," said Colby Harris, an OUR Walmart member and three-year associate who walked off the job in Lancaster, Texas, on Thursday evening. "And thousands of people in our cities and towns and all across the country are joining our calls for change at Walmart. We are overwhelmed by the support and proud of what we've achieved so quickly and about where we are headed."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow the day's events as they unfolded
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Salvatore Perrone faces charges of systematically shooting dead three Middle Eastern store owners in separate incidents A New York City garment salesman accused of systematically shooting three Middle Eastern shopkeepers to death as they worked alone was held without bail on Thursday. Salvatore Perrone, who faces murder charges, denies killing anyone, his lawyer said. Ken Jones said his client shows no remorse and appears "as though he could have some mental health issues". Perrone was taken into custody Wednesday. Police said that a pharmacy worker recognized Perrone, 63, as the balding man shown in surveillance footage leaving the scene of the most recent shooting, on 16 November. Another shopkeeper came forward and said Perrone had gone into his store and questioned him about whether he worked alone and when he closed, police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. "It's reasonable to assume he was going to keep doing this, and, by arresting him, we saved lives," Kelly said. Detectives said they had found the duffel bag at Perrone's girlfriend's home. Inside, they said, was a sawed-off rifle used in the killings, along with .22-caliber ammunition, black gloves, women's clothing, a bloody knife and a bottle of bleach. Perrone's fingerprint was lifted from the murder weapon, Kelly said. Initially, authorities thought the killer might have targeted the shopkeepers because of their Middle Eastern backgrounds. But on Wednesday, Kelly said there was no motive he could speak of. In the most recent killing, the Iranian-born Rahmatollah Vahidipour was shot three times in the head and chest. After that killing, detectives discovered that the same gun had been used in the fatal shootings of two other shopkeepers. On 6 July, Mohamed Gebeli, an Egyptian, was found shot. On 6 August, Isaac Kadare, also Egyptian, was shot in the head. Police said they believe Perrone carried the murder weapon in the bag and traveled by subway. Perrone went store to store trying to sell clothing, police said, but it was unclear if he had tried to sell to any of the victims.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow live updates as anti-government protesters clash with supporters of President Mohamed Morsi over his sweeping new powers
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Shoppers hunt for bargains after some chains open Thursday evening, with protests and walkouts at number of Walmart stores Black Friday's annual shopping extravaganza started in earnest Friday morning after a controversial decision by major US stores to open late the night before gave shoppers an early chance to bag heavily discounted wares. The pre-Christmas shopping bonanza appeared to get off to a relatively peaceful start. Past sales have been marred by deaths, with some shoppers trampled by stampeding crowds. Despite relative peace, the Associated Press reported that a shopper in San Antonio, Texas, pulled a gun on another who punched him in the face while they were waiting in line at a Sears store. And there were protests and walkouts at Walmarts in cities across the US, where workers have been angered by the retailer's decision to open on Thanksgiving, traditionally a national holiday. The protests organised by workers' group Our Walmart started on Thursday evening in Miami – and more were planned for Friday in cities including Chicago, Milwaukee, Washington DC, Dallas and Los Angeles. "Our voices are being heard and our calls for change at Walmart are becoming louder as thousands of supporters across the country join us. Walmart cannot silence us. Until there is real change at Walmart, we will continue to speak out for an end to the attempts to silence us and for better jobs," said Colby Harris, a Walmart worker from Lancaster, Texas. Walmart and Toys R Us opened at 8pm on Thursday with some products in their Black Friday deals, while electronics retailer Best Buy opened at midnight in the traditional sales that follow Thanksgiving. Sales are expected to increase 4.1% over the festive period, according to the National Retail Federation in America, down on the 5.6% increase seen in 2011. However, the organisation believes the number of shoppers drawn in by the weekend-long sales could be down – with 147 million shoppers, compared with 152 million a year earlier. Charles O'Shea, a senior analyst at Moody's, told Reuters the reason for early store openings could be to challenge online retailers. He said: "It's a recognition that retailers need to be more aggressive and want to show their physical stores are important. It's a finite pie; if you can get a bit more by being open, then do it." However, Kevin Sterneckert from researchers Gartner Group warned: "They [shoppers] will buy things because they looked at it in the store. They will touch and feel what they are interested in and then buy it online on Monday, either from the same retailer or a different online retailer." But there are signs that consumers are more confident this year with the unemployment rate continuing to fall, slowly, and signs of a recovery in the housing market. According to the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index 37% of households now believe the economy will get better, the highest level since March 2002. A year ago a record number of consumers said it was a bad time to spend.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 17-year-old shot twice in the head after telling man not to urinate against her front door Police in Delhi are hunting a man who shot dead a teenage girl after she told him not to urinate against her front door. The murder is the latest in a series of violent incidents in the Indian capital. The 17-year-old victim, identified only as Binno, was shot twice in the head and died before reaching hospital. Her 40-year-old mother was also injured. The gunman, a former tenant, had been drinking, police said. Neighbours in the poor and densely populated district of Nizamuddin, in south Delhi, blamed "criminal elements". Shamshed Hussein, a shopkeeper, told the Guardian: "Every community has its bad elements. It's true that this isn't the safest neighbourhood but most of the time people get along. But then it doesn't take much to set things off." Raees Amir, a chemist, said the community was shocked. "The police are investigating but what are they going to do? It's worrying. That's how things are these days," he said. Public urination, as well as spitting, is a common sight in Indian cities where there are few public toilets. Repeated public health campaigns have had little impact. In 2009 a 22-year-old man was shot dead by a guard at a petrol station in Delhi after urinating nearby. Delhi was once known as quiet and relatively safe. Over recent years it has acquired a reputation for trivial incidents that trigger violence. Newspapers frequently report road rage attacks on police and other drivers. This month a driver died of stab wounds. In March a rickshaw driver was beaten to death. Experts have variously blamed overcrowding, a general lack of civility, the failure of people brought up in rural areas to adjust to city living, and widespread corporal punishment in schools.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Maria Alyokhina made the request because of 'tensions with other inmates', according to Russian prison service The jailed Pussy Riot punk protester Maria Alyokhina has been moved to a single cell at her own request because of tensions with fellow prisoners, Russia's prison service has said. Alyokhina, 24, is serving a two-year sentence for carrying out a protest against the president, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow's main Russian Orthodox cathedral. "Some tensions arose in relationships and, apparently, to prevent this situation from escalating, she decided to submit a request to the prison leadership and they moved her to a one-person cell," a prison service spokeswoman said on Friday. The spokeswoman dismissed Russian media reports that Alyokhina had been caught up in religious arguments with fellow prisoners. Pussy Riot's protest offended many members of Russia's Orthodox church. The spokeswoman said she could not comment on a report on the Life News website that Alyokhina had received violent threats from cellmates at the Ural mountains prison about 715 miles (1,150km) north-east of Moscow. Alyokhina and her two bandmates and were convicted in August of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for their "punk prayer", which the dominant Russian Orthodox church has cast as part of a concerted attack on the church and its followers. The women said the protest, in which they burst into Christ the Saviour cathedral and called on the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin, was not motivated by hatred and was meant to mock the church leadership's support for the longtime leader. Putin, a former KGB officer who has cultivated close ties with the church over 13 years in power, has rejected criticism from the US and European leaders who called the two-year sentences disproportionate. Alyokhina, who has a young son, argued with the judge and cross-examined witnesses during her trial. Her bandmate Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, is serving her sentence in a different prison. Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, was freed last month when a court suspended her sentence on appeal.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Ex-BBC director general flies to London to appear before inquiry into aborted Newsnight programme on Jimmy Savile Mark Thompson has flown to London to give evidence to Nick Pollard inquiry into the handling of Newsnight's aborted investigation into sexual abuse by the late Jimmy Savile, taking a couple of days of enforced leave from his new job as chief executive of the New York Times. The former BBC director general was expecting to give evidence for a couple of hours on Friday, but given the detailed, legalistic approach that the Pollard inquiry is taking, it is not clear how long he will be giving evidence to the "Leveson-style" hearings that are being undertaken at the offices of Reed Smith in central London. It also emerged on Friday that Pollard now expects to complete the inquiry by mid-December, rather than late November. Thompson is expected to be questioned by inquiry counsel Alan Maclean QC – who advised Tony Blair and Alastair Campbell during the Hutton inquiry – over what precisely he knew about allegations of child sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile, and why he verbally agreed to sending out a legal letter to the Sunday Times in September denying any part in suppressing the Newsnight film. He also said that he had no knowledge of the Savile allegations until ITV's documentary on the late Jim'll Fix It Star aired at the beginning of October. Thompson has repeatedly said that he did not intervene in Newsnight's Savile investigation, which he was first made aware of by BBC journalist Caroline Hawley at a Christmas Party a year ago. He then inquired into the status of the Newsnight film and has said he was told by Helen Boaden, the BBC director of news, that because it had been dropped there was nothing for him to worry about. However, his account altered earlier this month after it emerged that lawyers acting for him had sent a letter to the Sunday Times in early September, threatening to sue the paper for libel if he was accused of editorial interference. Thompson verbally agreed to the letter going out, but says he did not recall ever reading it or if he was shown it. The letter, critics say, implied that Thompson knew more about the Savile abuse allegations that he initially let on. Advisers to Thompson say the idea behind sending out the letter came from the BBC's press and legal departments, and that its purpose was only to deny that the director general had exerted any pressure on Newsnight to drop the Savile film. They say that the letter was aimed at reinforcing earlier denials of executive interference in the Newsnight film – and did not imply that Thompson knew more about Savile than previously admitted. Pollard, the former head of Sky News, said the inquiry has received 40 written submissions and conducted 12 interviews so far, with more to follow. Several thousands documents are involved and more are being provided. "While good progress is being made, it has become clear that it will not be possible for the review to report, as originally planned, during the second half of November," Pollard said. "Taking into account the need for a thorough and fair process, the further interviews planned, the need to consider additional documents and the time required for report preparation, I have informed the BBC that I now expect to provide my report to the BBC by mid-December." Former BBC director general George Entwistle, who resigned over Newsnight's bungled child-abuse allegation against Lord McAlpine earlier this month, is expected to give evidence to the Pollard inquiry on Monday. Those who have already appeared in front of Pollard include Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman and Kirsty Wark, as well as programme editor Peter Rippon, Boaden and her deputy Stephen Mitchell. Mitchell, one source said, gave eight hours of evidence. BBC trustee Anthony Fry told the Commons public accounts select committee on Thursday that the Pollard review had now taken on "semi-judicial status". • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The climate has been back on Obama's lips since his re-election, but the Doha conference will show if he is all talk Barack Obama is being pressed for proof of his intent to act on climate change ahead of next week's United Nations global warming summit in Doha. The proof might boil down to just two words: two degrees. An early statement at Doha that America remains committed to the global goal of limiting warming to 2C above pre-industrial levels would be a clear sign. Every statement from US diplomats at the Doha negotiations will be closely scrutinised for signs that Obama will indeed make climate change a priority of his second term – and that America remains committed to the global agreement diplomats have been seeking for 20 years. Campaigners say Obama's re-election, superstorm Sandy and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg's endorsement – predicated on climate change – put climate change back on the domestic agenda. Opinion polls suggest public concern in the US about climate change was rising even before Sandy. Campaigners argue Obama needs to engage on climate, if he wants to safeguard his legacy as president. "President Obama's re-election provides him with an opportunity to seal his legacy as a truly transformative leader, but he needs to address climate change," said Andrew Steer, president of the World Resources Institute. "I think history will judge any president from now onwards not to have succeeded if he doesn't really grapple with this issue seriously." Early indications are that Obama will spend more time on climate change than in his first term. He invoked "the destructive power of a warming planet" in his re-election speech. He told reporters he would make climate change a personal mission of his second term. At his first White House press conference, Obama spoke of starting a national conversation about climate risks, and building a bipartisan consensus for action. But the president also made clear the economy remained his number one focus. At Doha, negotiators will be looking for signs of how Obama plans to put his climate mission in action. Hardened climate observers will be watching whether Todd Stern, the state department climate envoy, reaffirms America's commitment to the climate platform reached in Durban last year – including a core goal of limiting warming to 2C. Some campaigners fear America is backing off from that promise, following a speech at Dartmouth University earlier this year in which Stern said signing on to the 2C goal was unrealistic for some countries. "It makes perfect sense on paper. The trouble is it ignores the classic lesson that politics – including international politics – is the art of the possible," Stern said in the speech. "If countries are told that, in order to reach a global goal, they must accept targets their leadership sees as contrary to their core interest in growth and development those countries are likely to say no." The talk, with its suggestion of a retreat from the Durban platform, caused enormous concern among campaign groups. Jennifer Morgan of WRI said in the reporters' conference call she would be watching to see whether America continued to back away from the goal, or whether it was back on side. Stern has not been giving interviews prior to the Doha talks. The larger question, however, is how Obama intends to use his authority to act on climate in his second term – even if Congress remains opposed to additional regulations. Obama committed America to a 17% cut in emissions this decade from 2005 levels. That was seen as too weak in most of the world, but efforts for economy-wide action collapsed in the Senate in 2010. Republicans in Congress then fought to undercut the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency. But Obama did manage to steer $90bn towards green investment in the economy recovery plan, and set new 54.5mpg fuel efficiency standards. Even after Obama's re-election, the House of Representatives is still controlled by Republicans, including a heavy contingent from the Tea Party conservatives who discount the very existence of climate change and oppose government intervention in the economy. But campaign groups in the US are hoping the Environmental Protection Agency steps up – by finalising a rule approved in March that would put severe limits on the construction of new power plants. Campaigners are also looking to the EPA to bring in new rules on existing coal-fired plants. "We recognise there are constraints on the president – in no small part from Congress – but the electorate wants action on climate change before superstorm Sandy becomes business as usual," Janet Redman, co-director of the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network said in a statement. "There are measures we can take now. We can join European countries and agree to tax financial transactions, which could raise hundreds of billions of dollars for climate programmes and other public goods. And we can promote the Green Climate Fund as the main channel for public finance to support low-carbon and climate-resilient sustainable development priorities of countries and communities most impacted by climate change."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Maps inside new Chinese passports trigger territorial dispute, with Vietnam demanding Beijing remove 'erroneous content' China has enraged its neighbours by claiming ownership of the entire South China Sea and Taiwan on a map printed in its newly revised passports. Inside the documents, an outline of China printed in the upper left corner includes Taiwan and the sea, hemmed in by dashes. The change highlights China's long-standing claim on the South China Sea in its entirety, though parts of the waters also are claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia. China's official maps have long included Taiwan and the South China Sea as its territory, but reproducing this on passports could be seen as a provocation since it requires other countries to tacitly endorse the claims by affixing their official seals to the documents. The map was widely condemned in Taiwan, which split from China after a civil war in 1949. Authorities said it could harm the warming ties the historic rivals have enjoyed since Ma Ying-jeou became president more than four years ago. "This is total ignorance of reality and only provokes disputes," said Taiwan's mainland affairs council, the cabinet-level body responsible for ties with Beijing. The council said the government would not accept the map. The Philippine foreign secretary, Albert del Rosario, told reporters in Manila he had sent a note to the Chinese embassy which outlined that his country "strongly protests" against the image. He said China's claims included an area "clearly part of the Philippines' territory and maritime domain". The Vietnamese government said it had also sent a diplomatic note to the Chinese embassy in Hanoi that called on Beijing to remove the "erroneous content" printed in the passport. In Beijing, the foreign ministry said the passport was issued based on international standards. China began issuing new versions to include electronic chips on 15 May, however criticism arose only this week, it added. "The outline map of China on the passport is not directed against any particular country," said a ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying. A Vietnamese foreign ministry spokesman, Luong Thanh Nghi, said: "Vietnam reserves the right to carry out necessary measures suitable to Vietnamese law, international law and practices toward such passports." Taiwan does not recognise China's passports, and visitors to the island must have special travel documents. China maintains it has ancient claims to all of the South China Sea, despite much of it being within the exclusive economic zones of its south-east Asian neighbours. The islands and waters are potentially rich in oil and gas. There are concerns that the disputes could escalate into violence. China and the Philippines had a tense maritime standoff at a shoal west of the main Philippine island of Luzon early this year. The US, which has said it takes no sides in the territorial spats but considers ensuring safe maritime traffic in the waters to be in its national interest, has backed a call for a "code of conduct" to prevent clashes in the disputed territories. But it remains unclear if China is prepared to draft such a legally binding non-aggression pact with rival claimants. The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam are scheduled to meet next month to discuss South China Sea claims and the role of China.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hundreds of stores kick off Christmas trading period early as retail federation predicts 5 million fewer shoppers than last year The annual US shopping extravaganza of Black Friday started early this year with hundreds of stores opening late on Thursday night to offer their heavily discounted wares, kicking off the Christmas trading period. Walmart and Toys R Us opened at 8pm on Thursday with some products in their Black Friday deals, while electronics retailer Best Buy opened at midnight in the traditional sales that follow Thanksgiving. The sales also stretched across the Atlantic, with Apple, Currys, PC World, Asda and Amazon offering discounts to coincide with the US holiday. Sales are expected to increase 4.1% over the festive period, according to the National Retail Federation in America, down on the 5.6% increase seen in 2011. However, the organisation believes the number of shoppers drawn in by the weekend-long sales could be down – with 147 million shoppers, compared with 152 million a year earlier. Charles O'Shea, a senior analyst at Moody's, told Reuters the reason for early store openings could be to challenge online retailers. He said: "It's a recognition that retailers need to be more aggressive and want to show their physical stores are important. It's a finite pie; if you can get a bit more by being open, then do it." However, Kevin Sterneckert from researchers Gartner Group warned: "They [shoppers] will buy things because they looked at it in the store. They will touch and feel what they are interested in and then buy it online on Monday, either from the same retailer or a different online retailer." In the UK, Apple is offering between 5-10% off some of its products in store and online, although it is being branded as a "shopping event" rather than Black Friday. Amazon, which introduced Black Friday to the UK market in 2010, has been running deals on its website all week and will continue until Monday – known as Cyber Monday. Elsewhere, Currys and PC World started a "100-hour price crash" sale running until Monday evening, with electronics discounted by up to 66%. Asda – owned by US giant Walmart – has a Black Friday weekend running on its website, which appears to be highly successful. Almost half the items available, including Monopoly for £9 and an Xbox package for £170, had sold out by Friday morning. Walmart could be hit during the weekend, with a series of strikes by workers over employee rights set to culminate with what unions are billing as a "memorable" walkout.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Two dead and more than 80 people injured in 'catastrophic' 140-car pileup after thick fog descends over Texas highway Two people have been killed and more than 80 hurt when at least 140 vehicles collided on a Texas highway in dense fog, leaving trucks twisted on top of each other and authorities rushing to pull survivors from the wreckage. "It is catastrophic," said Rod Carroll, deputy at the Jefferson County sheriff's office. "I've got cars on top of cars." The crashes happened on Interstate 10 about 80 miles east of Houston on Thursday morning. Carroll said 80 to 90 people were taken to the hospital, with 10 to 12 of those in a serious to critical condition. Up to 150 vehicles were involved in the pileup. The fog was so thick officers attending the scene did not immediately realise they were dealing with multiple accidents, he added. According to the Texas department of public safety, a crash on the eastbound side of the highway triggered a series of other accidents. There were also multiple crashes on the other side of the highway. Stephanie Davis, an officer at the department, told KFDM television two people had been killed when an SUV was crushed by a tractor trailer, and at least 100 cars and trucks were involved in the accident. She identified the dead as Debra Leggio, 60, and Vincent Leggio, 64. The eastbound lanes on the I-10 highway were reopened on Thursday evening, more than eight hours after the incident. Carroll said uninjured drivers helped authorities sort through the wreckage. "It's just people helping people," he added. "The foremost thing in this holiday season is how other travellers were helping us when we were overwhelmed, sitting and holding, putting pressure on people that were injured."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Leaders call for Friday protests as ElBaradei says president has appointed himself Egypt's new pharaoh Egyptian opposition groups are calling for mass protests amid mounting anger at President Mohamed Morsi's surprise decision to give himself, and the Islamist-dominated assembly writing Egypt's new constitution, extraordinary new powers. Although the opposition has called for a "million man march", recent street demonstrations on the streets of Cairo have been small in comparison with the vast protests that swamped the city during its revolution last year. "This is a coup against legitimacy. We call on all Egyptians to protest in all of Egypt's squares on Friday," Sameh Ashour, head of the Egyptian Lawyers syndicate told a news conference called with two of Morsi's prominent political opponents, Amr Moussa and Mohamed ElBaradei. Morsi, who was feted on the international stage for his key role in bringing the violence in Gaza to an end, issued the decree on Thursday which also ordered the retrial of former president Hosni Mubarak and officials and security force members accused of killing protesters during the country's revolution. Although the ending of impunity for those who had committed crimes during the ousting of Mubarak would be widely popular, opposition groups described other new measures a as a power grab. Presented as a move to "protect the revolution," the decree won immediate praise from Morsi's allies but stoked fears among secular-minded Egyptians that the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies aim to dominate the new Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi's supporters insist the move is temporary until a new constitution can be drafted and a new parliament elected, and is required to remove obstacles to Egypt moving forward. Morsi already has both executive and legislative powers since the dissolution of the parliament's lower assembly, and has now added what appears to be a monopoly of judicial authority, placing himself beyond the courts while appointing a hand-picked prosecutor without consultation. It seemed likely to deepen the divisions that have plagued the post-Mubarak era. "These decisions will feed discord in Egyptian politics and will be far from creating a favourable climate for restoration of economic growth," said Mustapha Kamal Al-Sayyid, a professor of political science at Cairo University told Reuters. His remarks follow a slew of angry criticism on Thursday against the move. ElBaradei accused Morsi on Twitter of having "usurped all state powers and appointed himself Egypt's new pharaoh". "This is unacceptable, Morsi is preventing the judiciary from doing its job," Emad Gad, political analyst and member of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party told Al Ahram. While some commentators have recognised that the new powers appear to be aimed at removing the obstacle of a judiciary still dominated by many remnants of the Mubarak-era who have undermined progress towards a constitution, they are also alarmed by the powers in the decree. In particular, critics point to Article 6, which states that the "president may take the necessary actions and measures to protect the country and the goals of the revolution" and places the president as the sovereign of the state, as he can "claim exception against all rules". Some compared it to Anwar Sadat's use of a similar measure in 1979 which was used against opposition figures. The decree appeared to remove any uncertainty still hanging over the fate of the assembly writing the constitution. The body has faced a raft of legal challenges from plaintiffs who dispute its legality. Critics say its popular legitimacy had been further called into doubt by the withdrawal of many of its non-Islamist members, who had complained their voices were not being heard. The constitution is a crucial element in Egypt's transition to democracy. New parliamentary elections will not be held until the document is completed and passed by a popular referendum. The decree also gave the body an additional two months to complete its work, meaning the drafting process could stretch until February, pushing back new elections. A number of political groups joined to condemn the decree and said the president "robbed the people and institutions of all the rights and powers", in a statement issued late on Thursday night. Among popular measures in the decree, however, is the decision to retry Mubarak, 84, who was sentenced to life in prison in June for failing to prevent killings that claimed the lives of some 800 people that occurred during the uprising that led to his fall in February last year and after. Critics, including demonstrators who have been protesting in Cairo this week, have been angry about the widespread impunity enjoyed by many officials and security force members who have largely avoided justice for the killings of demonstrators. The removal of the Mubarak-era chief prosecutor and his replacement was designed to meet these demands. Heba Morayef, Egypt director for Human Rights Watch, said: "Egypt needed judicial reform and the public prosecutor is a Mubarak holdover, but granting the president absolute power and immunity is not the way to do it."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Overall EU spending proposed by Herman Van Rompuy remains €50bn higher than the initial British demand
EU budget interactive: where does your money go? David Cameron failed on Thursday night in his bid to persuade the European council president, Herman Van Rompuy, to agree a €6bn (£4.85bn) cut in EU administration costs. Cameron did manage to secure modest cuts in the Connecting Europe budget, where Van Rompuy agreed to a €4.5bn cut. The prime minister had suggested a cut of €20bn. The British rebate was not discussed. This meant that the Van Rompuy proposal – exempting rural payments to new member states from the rebate and asking the UK to contribute to the rebate – remains in place. The latest Van Rompuy draft says on the rebate: "The existing correction mechanism for the UK will continue to apply. The last part of the current own resources decision related to the breakdown of rural development expenditure is no longer applicable. "Temporary corrections in the form of lump sum growth projections (in current prices) in annual GNI based contributions during the period 2014-2020 will be granted to the following member states - €2.8bn to Germany, €1.15bn to the Netherlands, and €325m to Sweden. All corrections (the UK correction and the temporary lump sum corrections) will be fully financed by all member states based on the GNI key." One EU official said many in Brussels believe that Britain is taking a tough stance on the relatively small administrative spending – pay and other related costs – to mask a change of tack in Cameron's plans for a real terms freeze in the overall EU budget. While Cameron told Van Rompuy he was pleased with big budget cuts tabled last week by Brussels, the spending proposed by Van Rompuy remains €50bn higher than the initial British demand. The Van Rompuy paper reduced European commission budget proposals by €81bn. Stepping up his campaign against eurocrats, Cameron urged further cuts to administration costs by: • Increasing the retirement age to 68 for all EU officials now under the age of 58. The current retirement age is 63. This would save €1.5bn. • Cutting the overall EU pay bill by 10% for officials, saving €3bn. • Lowering the pension cap from 70% of an official's final salary to 60%, saving €1.5bn. A UK official said: "These are not dramatic changes. The commission and others are telling the Greeks, the Italians and others that they should put the retirement age up to 68. In the UK we have cut [public sector] pensions to a career average salary. They argue that it is very difficult legally to change people's terms and conditions. Well, we have managed it in the UK." The commission has proposed increasing the administrative budget from €56bn to €63bn. Van Rompuy has proposed a trim to €62.63bn. Cameron told Van Rompuy the EU should follow the example of Whitehall which has imposed cuts of between 25%-30% in administrative costs. One British official said: "We can save tens of billions compared with what is on the table." While Van Rompuy was said not to have responded to UK demands, José Manuel Barroso, the commission president, was reported to have reacted defensively. Under pressure from Barroso, Van Rompuy has already minimised his proposed cuts to eurocrats' terms and conditions to €500m over seven years. Some of the British demands are also supported by the Germans and the Dutch. EU officials accept it is difficult to argue with the need for cuts in the cost of administration during a time of austerity, though there is anger that Britain has declined to publish the salaries of its diplomats in Brussels. They receive generous housing allowances and live in the most exclusive areas of Brussels such as Ixelles in the centre and Tervuren on the outskirts. Cameron is encouraged by Van Rompuy's proposed "payment ceiling" – the amount that is due to be paid out – of €940bn, compared to the first European commission payment ceiling of €987.6bn. Britain is insisting that the overall figure has to come in below €940bn. But Cameron appeared resigned to accepting he would not achieve his original target figure of €886bn. The administration costs of the EU represent only 6.4% of the overall budget. Senior UK officials admit that big savings cannot be made there, but emphasise that the issue is "very symbolic" not only, but especially, in Britain. Cameron highlighted the "Connecting Europe" project, which is designed to connect the continent through transport and energy infrastructure projects.One EU official said: "David Cameron lectures us all on the need to draw up a budget for growth. And yet he now wants to cut the very part of the budget that will build up transport, energy and broadband infrastructure." Another EU official pointed out that it is designed to help fund the proposed high speed rail link from London to Birmingham and the electrification of the Great Western rail line. Cameron's decision to target the growth budget and administrative costs for cuts shows Downing Street has accepted that Britain will not win any further cuts in the two highest areas of expenditure. These are the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and structural funds that help build the infrastructure of poorer areas, notably in eastern Europe. France's president, François Hollande, arrived at the summit incensed at proposed cuts to the farms budget of some €60bn compared to the current seven-year period and also embittered at having currently to fund a quarter of Britain's annual €3.6bn rebate. He sought to gain the support of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, before the summit started, but was said to have found little sympathy. The French said they were in no hurry to reach a deal, indicating that the summit could collapse in failure over the next 48 hours.
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