| |  | | | | | SHUTTING DOWN Feed My Inbox will be shutting down on January 10, 2013. To find an alternative service for email updates, visit this page. | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US judge says tobacco firms must spend their own money on a public campaign admitting deception about the risks of smoking Major tobacco companies who spent decades denying they lied to the US public about the dangers of cigarettes must spend their own money on a public advertising campaign saying they did lie, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. The ruling sets out what might be the harshest sanction to come out of a historic case that the Justice Department brought in 1999 accusing the tobacco companies of racketeering. US District judge Gladys Kessler wrote that the new advertising campaign would be an appropriate counterweight to the companies' "past deception" dating to at least 1964. The advertisements are to be published in various media for as long as two years. Details of the campaign - like how much it will cost and which media will be involved - are still to be determined and could lead to another prolonged fight.
Kessler's ruling on Tuesday, which the companies could try to appeal, aims to finalise the wording of five different statements the companies will be required to use. One of them begins: "A federal court has ruled that the defendant tobacco companies deliberately deceived the American public by falsely selling and advertising low tar and light cigarettes as less harmful than regular cigarettes." Another statement includes the wording: "Smoking kills, on average, 1,200 Americans. Every day." The wording was applauded by health advocates who have waited years for tangible results from the case. "Requiring the tobacco companies to finally tell the truth is a small price to pay for the devastating consequences of their wrongdoing," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an anti-tobacco group in Washington. "These statements do exactly what they should do. They're clear, to the point, easy to understand, no legalese, no scientific jargon, just the facts," said Ellen Vargyas, general counsel for the American Legacy Foundation. The largest cigarette companies in the United States spent $8.05 billion in 2010 to advertise and promote their products, down from $12.5 billion in 2006, according to a report issued in September by the Federal Trade Commission. The major tobacco companies, which fought having to use words like "deceived" in the statements, citing concern for their rights of free speech, had a muted response. "We are reviewing the judge's ruling and considering next steps," said Bryan Hatchell, a spokesman for Reynolds American Inc. Philip Morris USA, a unit of Altria Group Inc, is studying the decision, a spokesman said. The Justice Department, which urged the strong language, was pleased with the ruling, a spokesman said. Kessler's ruling considered whether the advertising campaign - known as "corrective statements" - would violate the companies' rights, given that the companies never agreed with her 2006 decision that they violated racketeering law. But she concluded the statements were allowed because the final wording is "purely factual" and not controversial. She likened the advertising campaign to other statements that US officials have forced wayward companies to make. The Federal Trade Commission, she wrote, once ordered a seller of supposed "cancer remedies" to send a letter on its own letterhead to customers telling them the commission had found its advertising to be deceptive. "The government regularly requires wrongdoers to make similar disclosures in a number of different contexts," Kessler wrote.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | President disappoints campaigners by signing bill into law that exempts US airlines from European carbon trading scheme Barack Obama signed a law on Tuesday excluding US airlines from the European Union's carbon trading scheme and delivering a blow to campaigners' hopes for stronger climate action during the president's second term. Environmental campaigners had urged Obama to veto the aviation bill as a sign of his commitment to fighting climate change in his second term. The White House said in a statement that Obama still saw climate change as a priority but that he disagreed with subjecting US and other foreign airlines to the EU emissions trading scheme. "The Obama administration is firmly committed to reducing harmful carbon pollution from civil aviation both domestically and internationally," a White House statement to reporters said. But "the application of the EU ETS to non-EU air carriers is the wrong way to achieve that objective". The White House said the Obama administration would work to resolve airline emissions through the International Civil Aviation Organisation. But the move was disappointing to European officials and to campaigners in the US who had urged Obama to veto the bill. After winning re-election Obama listed climate change as one of the three main challenges facing the country. Campaigners had hoped he would make the fight against climate change part of his legacy. The World Wildlife Fund said it was disappointed the bill had passed. "However there is a silver lining here – the administration has appointed high-level representatives to pursue a global solution for aviation and climate," WWF said. Connie Hedegaard, the EU's climate commissioner, tweeted: "Aviation ETS: So far the re-elected Pres. #Obama #climate policies look EXACTLY as in first term. Wonder when we'll see the announced change?" The bill signed by Obama on Tuesday was unusual in that it specifically exempted US companies from complying with international law. But American airlines had pushed hard for the bill, which had support from Democrats as well as Republicans in Congress. Commercial carriers argued the EU's carbon tax was unfair because it would require airlines to pay for emissions on the entire transatlantic flight, not just through European air space. The main airline lobby group said it would cost the industry $3.1bn by 2020. "It never made a bit of sense for European governments to tax our citizens for flying over our own airspace," said Claire McCaskill, the Democratic senator from Missouri. Under the original plan airlines would have had to begin paying for the carbon emitted during flights early next year. Carriers were to reduce their emissions 3% from 2006 levels next year and 5% by 2020. But the EU put the programme on hold for a year for non-European carriers to allow time for a global agreement on aviation emissions.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | WikiLeaks suspect kept on extreme suicide-prevention measures because of 'erratic dancing and playing
peek-a-boo' Military commanders at the marine base in Quantico in Virginia kept Bradley Manning, the WikiLeaks suspect, on extreme suicide-prevention measures because he engaged in "erratic dancing" and played peek-a-boo, the soldier's court martial has been told. The measures were likened by the UN to torture. Daniel Choike, who was commander of the Quantico marine base between 29 July 2010 and 20 April 2011, when Manning was held there, said he had agreed to keep the soldier on a restrictive "prevention of injury" (PoI) order because of his "erratic behaviour, poor judgment in the past and poor family relationships". The PoI order involved Manning being held in his cell for 23 hours a day in solitary confinement, having all his possessions withheld, being checked every five minutes, held overnight with the light on, and at times stripped of all his clothes. Asked by David Coombs, Manning's civilian defence lawyer, to state specifically what "erratic behaviour" the soldier had displayed, Choike replied: "His acting out, playing peek-a-boo, licking the bars of his cell, dancing, erratic dancing – those are the ones I recall." Coombs asked Choike whether he could imagine that somebody held captive in a 6ft by 8ft cell might dance out of boredom, to keep his mind occupied. "I suppose so," the retired colonel said. Coombs asked whether Choike had been aware that the incidents of Manning licking the bars on his cell had happened when he was sleepwalking, probably as a result of the medication he had been given. Choike replied that he was not. It also emerged in court that one member of staff at the brig where Manning was held wrote a playful ditty about the removal of the soldier's underwear at night as part of his extreme regime. The officer transposed underpants into Dr Seuss's nonsense poem, Green Eggs and Ham: "I can wear them in a box, I can wear them with a fox, I can wear them in the day, I can wear them so I say, But I can't wear them at night, My comments gave the staff a fright." Coombs read the revised poem to Choike and asked him: "Do you think the subject of the removal of his underwear was a joking matter?" "No," replied Choike. The exchange between Manning's lawyer and the marine commander happened on the first day of the latest pre-trial hearing in the soldier's court martial at Fort Meade in Maryland. Manning himself is expected to take the witness stand on Wednesday or Thursday. Choike revealed to the court martial that he warned his superior officer in the Pentagon from the start that in his opinion Quantico was not the right place for Manning's detention long-term. "I didn't feel that PFC Manning should be detained more than 90 days in the brig." In the end Manning spent nine months at Quantico – three times what Choike thought appropriate. His treatment there prompted international protests from the UN, Amnesty and other organisations, some of which likened the conditions to torture. Choike said the brig at Quantico was unprepared for the long-term detention of such a high-profile case as Manning on a number of levels such as dealing with the media and the medical needs of the detainee. The chief prosecution lawyer, army major Ashden Fein, cross-examining Choike, referred to behaviour from Manning in the brig that he implied suggested suicidal tendencies, including nooses that Manning made while in Quantico. "You were aware of him licking the bars at night, that he wouldn't interact with staff, that there were times when he wouldn't be responsive at all, that there was an incident of him crying behind an exercise machine," Fein said. The army private is facing 22 counts in three charges relating to the massive transmission of US state secrets to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. Hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and war logs from Iraq and Afghanistan were leaked and published by WikiLeaks, partly in collaboration with international newspapers including the Guardian. The current hearing is focusing on what is known as an Article 13 – the claim by the defence that Manning was subjected to illegal pre-trial punishment during the nine months he was held in Quantico. The hearing, scheduled to last six days, constitutes the first opportunity for Manning's legal team to question the military commanders who decided to keep him in such harsh conditions. His treatment in Quantico provoked an eruption of international outrage, with protests from the UN rapporteur on torture and Amnesty International. Under lengthy and at times intense questioning, Choike painted a picture of a military hierarchy that was almost obsessively focused on media reaction to what was happening to Manning in Quantico, fearful of the press fallout should the soldier attempt to kill himself. Choike admitted that the interest went right up to the level of General George Casey, then chief of staff of the US army. Those who paid very close attention to Manning's time at Quantico included Lt Gen George Flynn, a three-star general based in the Pentagon. From the start, Flynn appears to have set the parameters for Manning's treatment at Quantico, according to the information that emerged from a series of emails read out at the hearing. The revelations will heighten speculation that there was a political element to the mistreatment of the alleged WikiLeaks source. Bradley Manning supporters have long pointed to Flynn as a key figure in the decision to subject the soldier to an extreme regime, bringing the issue closer to the centre of the Obama administration. One email written shortly before the soldier arrived at the marine base after his arrest in Iraq said that Flynn "would like to be proactive and make sure we hold the moral high ground if this issue takes hold in the press". Another email from Flynn relating to the decision to strip Manning naked at night said "it would be good to have the leadership have a heads up on these things before they are read in the Early Bird!" The Early Bird is the synopsis of press clippings circulated every morning to military leaders. Choike insisted that Flynn only wanted to be kept informed about Manning's condition, but did not want to influence the decisions taken over his treatment. But emails read out to the court present a different account. One email from Choike himself to staff at the brig, written at the time that Manning was forced to strip naked, said that no changes to the soldier's status should be made "without passing to [Flynn] for his consideration". Flynn, he added, "wouldn't put anything in writing". The same email underlined the importance of passing information on Manning up the line to Flynn at the Pentagon, as Flynn "will have to determine the political impact, media interest, legal ramifications and senior leadership reactions – and he can't do that without us informing him." Coombs grilled Choike about the period in which Manning was forced to stand naked outside his cell for morning inspection. Choike said that he had been told by brig staff that Manning had been offered a blanket and a suicide smock but had turned them down. "I believe he chose to do this [stand naked]," Choike said. "Were you told that Manning had grabbed the blanket but was ordered to put it down?" Coombs said. "No, I wasn't told that," Choike said.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Satellite measurements show flooding from storms like Sandy will put low-lying population centres at risk sooner than projected Sea-level rise is occurring much faster than scientists expected – exposing millions more Americans to the destructive floods produced by future Sandy-like storms, new research suggests. Satellite measurements over the last two decades found global sea levels rising 60% faster than the computer projections issued only a few years ago by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The faster sea-level rise means the authorities will have to take even more ambitious measures to protect low-lying population centres – such as New York City, Los Angeles or Jacksonville, Florida – or risk exposing millions more people to a destructive combination of storm surges on top of sea-level rise, scientists said. Scientists earlier this year found sea-level rise had already doubled the annual risk of historic flooding across a widespread area of the United States. The latest research, published on Wednesday in Environmental Research Letters, found global sea-levels rising at a rate of 3.2mm a year, compared to the best estimates by the IPCC of 2mm a year, or 60% faster. Researchers used satellite data to measure sea-level rise from 1993-2011. Satellites are much more accurate than tide gauges, the study said. The scientists said they had ruled out other non-climatic causes for the rise in water levels – and that their study demonstrated that researchers had under-estimated the effects of climate change. "Generally people are coming around to the opinion that this is going to be far worse than the IPCC projections indicate," said Grant Foster, a US-based mathematician who worked on the paper with German climatologist Stefan Rahmstorf. The implications are serious – especially for coastal areas of the US. Large portions of America's Atlantic and Pacific coasts are regarded as "hotspots" for sea-level rise, with water levels increasing at twice the rate of most other places on the planet. Scientists previously had expected a global sea-level rise of 1m by the end of the century. "But I would say that if you took a poll among the real experts these days probably they would say that a more realistic figure would be more than that," Foster said. "The study indicates that this is going to be as bad or worse than the worst case scenarios of the IPCC so whatever you were planning from Cape Hatteras to Cape Cod in terms of how you were preparing for sea-level rise – if you thought you had enough defences in place, you probably need more," Foster said. A study published last March by Climate Central found sea-level rise due to global warming had already doubled the risk of extreme flood events – so-called once in a century floods – for dozens of locations up and down the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. It singled out the California cities of Los Angeles and San Diego on the Pacific coast and Jacksonville, Florida, and Savannah, Georgia, on the Atlantic, as the most vulnerable to historic flooding due to sea-level rise. Sandy, which produced a 9ft storm surge at Battery Park in New York City, produced one example of the dangerous combination of storm surges and rising sea level. In New York, each additional foot of water puts up to 100,000 additional people at risk, according to a map published with the study. But tens of millions of people are potentially at risk across the country. The same report noted that more than half of the population, in some 285 US cities and towns, lived less than 1m above the high tide mark. "In some places it takes only a few inches of sea-level rise to convert a once in a century storm to a once in a decade storm," said Ben Strauss, who directs the sea-level rise programme at Climate Central. Large swathes of the mid-Atlantic coast, from Virginia through New Jersey, also faced elevated risk of severe flooding, because of climate change, he said.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Female trio said they wanted to highlight the 'naked truth' about possible cuts to HIV programmes in event of fiscal cliff failure Three female Aids activists have been arrested after taking off their clothes in the lobby of the speaker of the US House of Representatives, John Boehner. The protesters said they wanted to highlight the "naked truth" about potential spending cuts in HIV programs that could result from a failure to reach a deal over the fiscal cliff. Boehner is one of the Congressional leaders negotiating with the Obama administration to avert automatic spending cuts and tax increases in January. Medicaid would be one of the programs affected by the cuts, should a deal not be reached. The trio had the words "Aids cuts kill" painted on their bodies and had linked arms with four men who also disrobed as part of the protest. The nude protesters, along with dozens of other clothed demonstrators chanted slogans, including: "People with Aids are under attack. What do we do? Fight back." The three women were arrested by Capitol police as they mingled with other protesters in the hall outside Boehner's district office after putting their clothes back on. The naked male protesters appeared to have left. "People with Aids are sick and tired of being pushed over the cliff," said Jennifer Flynn, 40, of New York City, who was among those arrested. "We need to make sure they stop going after people with Aids." Michael Tikili, 26, of New York City, said he is HIV-positive and depends on Medicaid federal medcial payments for treatment. "Just the idea of these programs being cut is horrible," Tikili said. The three nude female protesters were charged with lewd and indecent acts under the District of Columbia's disorderly conduct law, a Capitol police spokesman said. A coalition of Aids activist groups gathering in Washington for Saturday's World Aids Day organized the protest.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Richard Williamson was manager of troubled maps division that has been dogged by glitches since dropping Google Apple has reportedly fired the head of its mapping team following software glitches which annoyed customers and rained mockery on the company. It ousted Richard Williamson, the manager of its troubled mapping division, to regain public trust and draw a line under the fiasco, according to Bloomberg, citing company sources. Senior vice-president Eddy Cue pushed out Williamson as part of a management shake-up and he was now enlisting help from outside mapping-technology experts, Bloomberg reported. Apple, which has reputation for secrecy, did not make any public announcement and did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Cue, a troubleshooter and confidant of the company's late founder, Steve Jobs, is said to be "prodding" digital maps provider TomTom NV (TOM2) to fix the landmark and navigation data it shares with Apple. Apple previously used Google maps on its iPads and iPhones but dropped its rival's maps in iOS 6, software introduced in September, and used its own mapping technology. Glitches dogged the software. It muddled landmarks and directions and led to confusion in several countries, including Ireland where Dublin airport appeared to have moved from the north to the south of the city. Customers took to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other social media to vent anger and scorn, a rare pillorying for Apple just as it tried to recover from Jobs's death. The criticism did not appear to dent sales of the iPhone 5 but Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook apologized to customers. "We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make maps better," he said in the statement. The bungle led to the ousting of mobile-software chief Scott Forstall in October – apparently because he refused to sign the apology for the app. He is is followed, it now seems, by Williamson. His title was vice-president of iOS platform services.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | President Obama reaches out to rally public opinion behind his solutions to Congress's tax and spending crunch
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ACLU says combat exclusion policy is unconstitutional and has damaged career opportunities for many female soldiers Four US servicewomen are challenging a longstanding policy barring women from thousands of ground combat positions, citing the changing nature of warfare and fairness for career soldiers. The American Civil Liberties Union argued in a legal complaint filed on Tuesday in federal court in northern California that a military policy to bar women from combat roles on the basis of gender was unconstitutional. "Nearly a century after women first earned the right of suffrage, the combat exclusion policy still denies women a core component of full citizenship - serving on equal footing in the military defense of our nation," reads the suit, on behalf of four women soldiers who have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan. Their career opportunities also had been limited by the policy, the women said. The lawsuit comes as the Department of Defense has slowly been dropping such gender-based restrictions. In February, it allowed some women to serve in combat battalions, a unit of 300 to 1,000 members, and dropped restrictions on women serving in units that were required to be based with combat units. But women are still not allowed in infantry, or in smaller units engaged in combat. Women are barred from more the 238,000 positions, the ACLU said. But in Iraq and Afghanistan, where there are no clear battlelines, women have been pulled into combat in spite of the policy, the group added. Asked about the lawsuit at a briefing, the Pentagon spokesman said that defense secretary Leon Panetta remained "very committed to examining the expansion of roles for women in the US military and he's done so." Spokesman George Little said: "On his watch, some 14,500, give or take a few, positions have been made available to women. And he has directed the services to explore the possibility of opening additional roles for women in the military. "So I think his record is very strong on this issue. The recent openings that I just referred to are merely the beginning and not the end of a process." A 2009 study by the Department of Defense found that women had already served in combat roles in the two wars, and that female veterans felt the experience opened up career opportunities. Some defense officials have noted that 10 years of combat had made it clear that some gender-based restrictions were obsolete because battlefields faced by US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan had no clear front lines and no obvious ways to limit exposure to fighting. Under current policy adopted in 1994, women are allowed to serve in combat units as medics, intelligence officers and other jobs at the brigade level. But women cannot be assigned to perform the same job in a battalion, which can be as small as a few hundred troops. The military has sometimes gotten around the rules by temporarily attaching women to battalions, which allowed them to work in the smaller units but kept them from officially receiving credit for being in combat. Since combat experience is a factor in promotions and job advancement in the military, women have had greater difficulty than men in moving up to the top ranks, officials said. The air force is the service most open to women, with no gender restrictions on 99% of the jobs. The marine corps and US army are more difficult, barring women from more than 30% of jobs for enlisted personnel, mainly combat and armor positions, the Defense Department said. The ACLU and law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson filed the request for an injunction on the policy in the US district court, northern district of California. The lawsuit names Panetta as a defendant.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Senate trio 'disturbed' by Rice's Benghazi account after meeting intended to smooth her path to state department nomination Republican senators opened the way for a new showdown with Barack Obama on Tuesday, after an apparently disastrous meeting with UN ambassador Susan Rice that had been widely seen as an attempt to smooth her path to nomination as US secretary of state. The meeting on Capitol Hill had been widely expected to end in rapprochement after one of Rice's leading Senate critics, John McCain, stepped back from a bitter row over the 11 September attack on the US consulate in Benghazi. But McCain and his colleagues emerged from the 90-minute private encounter to say they were "significantly troubled" by Rice's explanation of her earlier accounts of the attack on the US mission. Four Americans died in the attack on 11 September, including the US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stephens. Five days after the incident, the White House put forward Rice to appear on the weekend talk shows in the US to give an explanation for what happened. Rice said the attack occurred after a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim film that had been produced in the US. The White House later said the Benghazi incident was a terrorist attack. At the meeting with senators on Tuesday, Rice said her earlier version had been based on "incorrect" talking points given to her by the intelligence services. Rice, who is reported to be Obama's favoured choice to replace Hillary Clinton at the State Department, insisted she had not intended to mislead the public. McCain, who appeared to be even more irritated with Rice than before the meeting, was blunt. "We are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. It is clear the information that [Rice] gave the American people was incorrect when she said it was a spontaneous demonstration triggered by a hateful video. It was not, and there was compelling evidence at the time that that was certainly not the case." One of McCain's colleagues, Lindsey Graham, said: "Bottom line, I'm more disturbed now than I was before [by] the 16 September explanation about how four Americans died in Benghazi." Graham added: "If you don't know what happened, just say you don't know what happened. The American people got bad information on 16 September. They got bad information from President Obama, and the question is: should they have been giving the information at all?" The row is ostensibly over the round of television interviews Rice gave on the Sunday after the attack, when she played down the involvement of al-Qaida elements. Her interviews were at odds with the CIA, which said later it had been convinced from early on that an al-Qaida related group had been behind the attack. Republicans argue that Rice, with one eye on the forthcoming presidential election, wanted to diminish the alleged role of al-Qaida because Obama had been claiming it had been defeated. But some leading figures in the GOP, including McCain, are still sore about how Democrats for months held up the appointment of John Bolton as UN ambassador in 2005. President George Bush eventually bypassed Congress to appoint him. Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, accused Republicans on Tuesday of having an "obsession" over what Rice said. Obama has not yet said who he will nominate to replace Clinton after his inauguration on 21 January, but Rice has emerged as a favourite for what is the biggest job in the cabinet. Carney described her Tuesday as being "enormously qualified", without specifying a particular job. The president was widely criticised in his first term of failing to stand up to Republicans in Congress, and he needs the psychological boost of early wins over the GOP if he is to hold out any hope of getting through significant legislation in his second term. The combination of the Rice row and the showdown over taxes and spending offer the president an early opportunity to demonstrate he is going to be tougher in his second term. Republicans do not have enough votes in the Senate to block a Rice nomination, but they could delay it for months through filibusters. Clinton has offered to remain in place until a successor has been appointed. In her statement after meeting the senators on Tuesday, Rice admitted her talking points were wrong and there had been no protest or demonstration in Benghazi. Rice, who was accompanied to Capitol Hill by the acting CIA director Michael Morell, said: "In the course of the meeting, we explained that the talking points provided by the intelligence community, and the initial assessment upon which they were based, were incorrect in a key respect: there was no protest or demonstration in Benghazi. "While we certainly wish that we had had perfect information just days after the terrorist attack, as is often the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved. We stressed that neither I nor anyone else in the administration intended to mislead the American people at any stage in this process, and the administration updated Congress and the American people as our assessments evolved." Rice, battling to keep her hopes of the secretary of state job alive, has further meetings scheduled with critical Republicans in Congress on Wednesday and in the coming weeks. One of the Republicans at Tuesday's meeting, Kelly Ayotte, hinted she would try to block Rice's nomination if Obama chooses her. "I would place a hold on anybody who wanted to be promoted for any job who had a role in the Benghazi situation," Ayotte said. Rice and senator John Kerry, who heads the Senate foreign affairs committee, are the two main contenders to replace Clinton. Rice has a reputation in the diplomatic community for being abrasive but has the backing of the first lady, Michelle Obama, and senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Senate trio 'disturbed' by Rice's Benghazi account after meeting intended to smooth her path to State Department nomination Republican senators opened the way for a new showdown with Barack Obama on Tuesday, after an apparently disastrous meeting with UN ambassador Susan Rice that had been widely seen as an attempt to smooth her path to nomination as US secretary of state. The meeting on Capitol Hill had been expected to end in rapprochement after one of Rice's leading Senate critics, John McCain, stepped back from a bitter row over the 11 September attack on the US consulate in Benghazi. But McCain and his colleagues emerged from the 90-minute private encounter to say they were "significantly troubled" by Rice's explanation of her earlier accounts of the attack on the US mission. Four Americans died in the attack on 11 September, including the US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stephens. Five days after the incident, the White House put forward Rice to appear on the weekend talk shows in the US to give an explanation for what happened. Rice said the attack occurred after a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim film that had been produced in the US. The White House later said the Benghazi incident was a terrorist attack. At the meeting with senators on Tuesday, Rice said her earlier version had been based on "incorrect" talking points given to her by the intelligence services. Rice, who is reported to be Obama's favoured choice to replace Hillary Clinton at the State Department, insisted she had not intended to mislead the public. She told the senators that when she said on television that al-Qaida had been defeated, she meant that its core had been defeated. McCain, who appeared to be even more irritated with Rice than before the meeting, was blunt. "We are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. It is clear the information that [Rice] gave the American people was incorrect when she said it was a spontaneous demonstration triggered by a hateful video. It was not, and there was compelling evidence at the time that that was certainly not the case." One of McCain's colleagues, Lindsey Graham, said: "Bottom line, I'm more disturbed now than I was before [by] the 16 September explanation about how four Americans died in Benghazi." Graham added: "If you don't know what happened, just say you don't know what happened. The American people got bad information on 16 September. They got bad information from President Obama, and the question is: should they have been giving the information at all?" The row is ostensibly over the round of television interviews Rice gave on the Sunday after the attack, when she played down the involvement of al-Qaida elements. Her interviews were at odds with the CIA, which said later it had been convinced from early on that an al-Qaida related group had been behind the attack. Republicans argue that Rice, with one eye on the forthcoming presidential election, wanted to diminish the alleged role of al-Qaida because Obama had been claiming it had been defeated. But some leading figures in the GOP, including McCain, are still sore about how Democrats for months held up the appointment of John Bolton as UN ambassador in 2005. President George Bush eventually bypassed Congress to appoint him. Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, accused Republicans on Tuesday of having an "obsession" over what Rice said. Carney said there were "no unanswered questions about Rice's appearance on the Sunday shows and the talking points that she used that were provided by the intelligence community. Those questions have been answered." Obama has not yet said who he will nominate to replace Clinton after his inauguration on 21 January, but Rice has emerged as a favourite for what is the biggest job in the cabinet. Carney described her Tuesday as being "enormously qualified", without specifying a particular job. The president was widely criticised in his first term of failing to stand up to Republicans in Congress, and he needs the psychological boost of early wins over the GOP if he is to hold out any hope of getting through significant legislation in his second term. The combination of the Rice row and the showdown over taxes and spending offer the president an early opportunity to demonstrate he is going to be tougher in his second term. Republicans do not have enough votes in the Senate to block a Rice nomination, but they could delay it for months through filibusters. Clinton has offered to remain in place until a successor has been appointed. In her statement after meeting the senators on Tuesday, Rice admitted her talking points were wrong and there had been no protest or demonstration in Benghazi. Rice, who was accompanied to Capitol Hill by the acting CIA director Michael Morell, said: "In the course of the meeting, we explained that the talking points provided by the intelligence community, and the initial assessment upon which they were based, were incorrect in a key respect: there was no protest or demonstration in Benghazi. "While we certainly wish that we had had perfect information just days after the terrorist attack, as is often the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved. We stressed that neither I nor anyone else in the administration intended to mislead the American people at any stage in this process, and the administration updated Congress and the American people as our assessments evolved." Rice, battling to keep her hopes of the secretary of state job alive, has further meetings scheduled with critical Republicans in Congress on Wednesday and in the coming weeks. One of the Republicans at Tuesday's meeting, Kelly Ayotte, hinted she would try to block Rice's nomination if Obama chooses her. "I would place a hold on anybody who wanted to be promoted for any job who had a role in the Benghazi situation," Ayotte said. Rice and senator John Kerry, who heads the Senate foreign affairs committee, are the two main contenders to replace Clinton. Rice has a reputation in the diplomatic community for being abrasive but has the backing of the first lady, Michelle Obama, and senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | More than 100,000 gather to protest against a decree issued by President Morsi granting sweeping constitutional powers More than 100,000 people took to the streets of Cairo on Tuesday to protest against a decree by the Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, that grants him sweeping constitutional powers. Columns of protesters from all over the Egyptian capital descended on Tahrir Square, the focus of the January 2011 revolution, in numbers that rivalled the rallies in the 18-day protest that toppled the authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak. "Dictator" was the word being used to describe Morsi's new status after last Thursday's decree, which grants the immunity for the president from judicial review as well protecting a controversial constitutional assembly dominated by the group he is affiliated with, the Muslim Brotherhood. "Today's protests are to overthrow oppression and stand up to the new dictatorship of Morsi, his decree and a constitution far removed from the revolution," said Haytham Mohamedeen of the Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists movement. "He has to back down. The revolution and the streets will dictate what he will do. If he stands in the way of the revolution he will share the same fate as Mubarak." Other marchers – who took to the streets in numbers similar to those that toppled Mubarak – called for Morsi not merely to rescind his decree but to step down from the presidency. The chant of the 2011 revolution – "The people want to bring down the regime" – was echoed in other major Egyptian cities, including Alexandria and Suez. Police continuously fired teargas quite near to Tahrir Square while fighting between police and protesters raged nearby and people continued to arrive. Among them was Mohamed ElBaradei, the former IAEA chief who has taken on the role of co-ordinator of a national salvation front set up to unite opposition to the Morsi decree. Rami Ghanem, of the National Front for Justice and Democracy, said Morsi's decree had galvanised and united Egypt's disparate opposition groups. "Most political movements have joined a salvation front with a united political bureau," he said. "What we have failed to do in the past two years, Morsi has achieved with his decree, uniting all of us. "Our objection is to the decree, irrespective of which president issued it. Killing continues by the ministry of interior, and governments that do this must be removed. We cannot accept any more transgressions, so this may escalate to peaceful civil disobedience." On Monday night, after a meeting with the supreme judicial authority, the presidency issued a statement clarifying the decree and stating that Morsi would use the new powers only for "sovereign matters", which is presumed to mean anything that relates to national security. A counter protest planned by the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups was postponed to avoid confrontation with those inflamed by the perceived power grab. Neither of these concessions was enough to stop the protests. "Morsi has no credibility any more," said Mohamed Eissa Moussa, a merchant participating in one of the marches. "He must step down. Neither he nor the Muslim Brotherhood can be trusted any more. He is not working for the revolution but for himself and his brotherhood. Had he been different, I would have supported him." "He has appropriated the revolution, and what's worse, he is claiming it is in the name of the revolution," said Ahmed Bakr, a member of Egypt's union for doctors. "This is a pivotal moment: if we accept his decree, the revolution is over. This isn't democracy, and their adoption of such a decree is farcical. The Brotherhood have no shame and Morsi is tearing this country apart." Tahrir square was teeming with people even before the separate marches reached the area early in the evening. Adapted anti-Mubarak chants calling for the heads of Morsi and the Brotherhood reverberated from the city's buildings. However, the Twitter account of the Muslim Brotherhood's official English-language website, Ikhwanweb, seemed unperturbed with the numbers out in protest, first dismissing the "low turnout" in Tahrir Square and then stating that opposition forces pleased about 300,000 protesters should brace themselves for the "millions" that would come out in support of Morsi. "On #Jan25, united Egyptians (Islamists, liberals, leftists) revolted against autocracy, supported by millions across country, today is politics," Ikhwanweb tweeted. Morsi, emboldened by his success on the international stage for reaching a truce between Hamas and Israel, has defended his decree by stating that it was necessary to defend the revolution from remnants of the Mubarak regime, much to the chagrin of many of protesters. The number of fatalities in a week of unrest reached four on Tuesday, with news of the death of Fathi Gharib, a member of the Socialist Popular Alliance party, who was reported to have died after inhaling teargas. Magdi Abdelhadi page 32→
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Shining shoes, mining and herding animals among the many jobs done by an estimated 750,000 children between five and 17 Rodrigo Medrano Calle is a Bolivian labour leader who meets and lobbies top government officials for his constituency's rights. That's not surprising in a country where pay is often low, working conditions harsh and unions play a powerful role in society. What's unusual is that Rodrigo is just 14 years old, and his union's members are all children. "I started working when I was nine, and I've done everything, shining shoes, bus driver's assistant, selling. I've gone through most of the jobs common for child and adolescent workers," said Rodrigo, who now sells chewing gum and cigarettes in bars at weekends, making £4-£5 for a night's work. "I lived on the street for a time and was going in the wrong direction, but then I found the movement, and it gave me a reason to be. I'm going to fight for my compañeros' rights, not just my own." Rodrigo's organisation, the Bolivian Union of Child and Adolescent Workers (Unatsbo), represents thousands of under-18s, in seven of the country's nine departments. And it's not just a Bolivian phenomenon: there are similar chapters in Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru and Colombia. Often funded by international donors, the organisations seek to bring young workers together to defend their rights and promote education. In Bolivia, successes include organising pay rises for children who sell newspapers on the city streets of Potosí from 6 cents (½p) to 12 cents a paper, using negotiations and the threat of strikes. Many international campaigners advocate an end to all child labour, but Unatsbo follows a more pragmatic line, arguing that, in a region where child labour is rife, it is more important to ensure young workers are not exploited. On paper, Bolivia bans under-14s from working, but nearly 750,000 children aged between five and 17 are involved in sometimes dangerous jobs. Luz Rivera Daza, an adult counsellor for Unatsbo in Potosí, says many child workers are in a legal blindspot: their work is prohibited and so they have very little defence if employers exploit them through long hours, physical or verbal abuse or refusing to pay a decent wage. "If you have to work, then you have to work exploited," she said of those situations. "This just makes you more vulnerable." Bolivia's informal economy includes everyone from bricklayers to farmers to shoeshiners, who work without contracts and set schedules. Many adults are part of this market, as are the great majority of child and adolescent workers. These young workers seem to be everywhere – in the cities they pack groceries at the supermarket, shine shoes on pavements, collect fares on buses, and sell cigarettes and sweets late at night in smoky beer halls. In the countryside they help their parents in the fields, herd sheep and llamas, or do the brutal work of mining or the sugar cane harvest. In a country where poverty is widespread and the minimum wage is $150 a month, living expenses can overwhelm a family, especially if one parent works. That was the case for Delina Juárez Mamani, whose son, Rolando, began helping her sell used clothes at a market stall in the city of El Alto when he was 12. "I never brought my children to work," she said. "Then the father left us and since then my kids come because I need the help." Rolando, who is now 17 and a Unatsbo leader himself, puts together the large metal frame and tarpaulin structure of her shop, and makes a little money helping others do the same. He works two long days a week, and that money pays for his transport to and from school. Juárez Mamani believes combining a job and school can be hard on young people because they may be tired from working, but says that education is a top priority for her children. In fact, most working children and adolescents in Bolivia also go to school. Rodrigo believes that instead of attempting to end many forms of child and adolescent work, the goal should be ending exploitation by creating part-time, safe and better paying jobs for young people who want them. "Why should there be a minimum age if the work is voluntary?" he asked. "The work of a child or adolescent is not bad – it helps society, it helps a family, and it helps us grow as people."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Health minister promises debate as expert report recommends several options allowing for abortion in limited circumstances The Irish government will decide by the end of December whether to allow abortions in the republic and under which circumstances they will be permitted. Ireland's health minister James Reilly promised that there would be a full debate on abortion in the Dáil before the coalition made a final decision. "I'm confirming that the government decision will be made on this before the end of December and implemented in the early new year," Reilly said today. The abortion issue has been thrown into sharp focus in Ireland following the death last month of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar in a Galway hospital. She had repeatedly asked for an emergency termination but was refused, according to her husband, because the medical team detected a foetal heart. She was 17 weeks pregnant when she died of blood poisoning. A 58-page expert report, which recommends several options allowing for abortion in limited circumstances, was published today. The report was drawn up after the European Court of Human Rights ordered Ireland to review its abortion ban following a legal challenge by three people known only as A, B and C. The report was also published in response to a court judgement 20 years ago on the so-called X case, in which Irish supreme court judges ruled that abortions could be carried out if the mother's life was in danger. It is understood that many backbenchers in the main coalition party, Fine Gael, will oppose any moves to allow for risk of suicide as a reason for allowing abortions to be carried out in Irish hospitals.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Failure to support limited recognition would undermine Abbas and validate armed resistance to Israel for many, officials warn The Palestinian leadership is warning Europe and the US that failure to support its bid for statehood at the United Nations on Thursday will further strengthen Hamas after the Gaza fighting by suggesting that violence, rather than diplomacy, is the way to win concessions from Israel. Senior Palestinian officials believe the vote is a crucial test of whether there is a future for President Mahmoud Abbas's diplomatic strategy after his credibility was badly damaged among Palestinians by what they regard as the success of Hamas in the conflict with Israel this month. Many ordinary Palestinians believe the conflict showed that standing up to Israel delivers results, in contrast to years of concessions under US peace plans, and drawn-out negotiations. European diplomats concede that the fighting has shifted the ground before the Palestinian request for recognition as a "non-member state". Failure to support Abbas could risk further undermining his increasingly weak position, to Hamas's advantage, they warn. France has said it will vote in favour, and Spain is shifting in that direction. But the US and Britain are attempting to weaken the impact of a UN vote in support of statehood by putting considerable pressure on the Palestinian leadership to offer guarantees that it will not take advantage of the new status to accuse Israel of war crimes at the international criminal court (ICC) or seek territorial rulings at the international court of justice. Palestinian officials said Britain and the US had pressed Abbas to sign a confidential side letter, which would not be presented to the UN general assembly, committing the Palestinian Authoritity not to accede to the ICC. France has been pressuring the Palestinians to amend the resolution before statehood is recognised to make it clear that Israel could not be taken to the ICC for its actions. Israeli officials are particularly concerned over an investigation of its assault on Gaza four years ago, Operation Cast Lead, which was widely condemned as a war crime because of the scale of Palestinian deaths and the level of destruction. The Palestinians have already drawn up the necessary application to go to the ICC. It caused consternation when the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, presented ths document at a meeting with the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, earlier this month. A Palestinian close to the talks quoted Clinton as responding: "Don't you even go there." Britain and the US also want Abbas to agree to begin negotiations immediately with the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu. The Palestinian leadership is demanding evidence that Israel is serious about talks after years of futile discussions during which the Jewish state continued its rapid expansion of settlements in the West Bank and other measures to seize land the Palestinians regard as part of a future state. Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian official who has played a leading role in shaping the statehood request, told the Guardian before leaving for the meeting in New York that the Israeli assault on Gaza strengthened the case for seeking UN recognition. He said the Palestinian leadership would not be deterred by threats, such as the warnings from Washington and Israel that they could cut funds to the Palestinian Authority. "Not to go to the UN would be suicidal for the Palestinian Authority. All these people [in Gaza] took the brunt of the attack and now we should chicken out because they [the US and Israel] will cut off some money? What we're doing is not violent; it's not military; it's not illegal," he said. "The world should see that if they keep maintaining the status quo, it will get you nothing but more bloodshed. That's the lesson from Gaza." Shaath said the vote was an important test of whether there was a future for diplomacy, when talks had produced almost no progress toward a Palestinian state in years. "Clinton just a few days before Gaza said it would be a very long time before the Palestinian issue is going to get attention. Which means what: we only get attention when we use force? If we get this vote, people will feel nonviolence produces results; if we do not, they will reach the opposite conclusion," he said. Later, Shaath told a meeting with foreign diplomats it would be "immoral" for their countries to oppose the statehood resolution. The Palestinian Authority has warned countries with embassies in Ramallah, including Bosnia and Cameroon, that if they do not support the UN move they will be expelled. The US, Israel and European countries have accepted that attempts to get the Palestinians to back down from seeking UN recognition have failed and that the move is all but guaranteed to pass, with the support of a majority of the general assembly. But Washington and London are putting considerable pressure on the Palestinian leadership over the ICC because, as one European official put it, "taking Israel to the court is a real red line". For now, it appears the Palestinian leadership would prefer to retain the option to go to the ICC as a bargaining chip for future negotiations. But the pressure will only grow in meetings in New York immediately before the vote. Britain says it is concerned at the Israeli response to Palestinian statehood after Israel's foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has threatened to cancel all or parts of the Oslo peace accords and topple Abbas from power. And the UK says the statehood bid could end up harming Palestinian interests if the Israeli reaction is so severe that it sets back the prospects for peace. But Palestinian officials are dismissive of the argument, saying there is no peace process to speak of and that Israel has done little to enhance Abbas's credibility by continuing to expand Jewish settlements and treating him with contempt. Britain also pressed the Palestinians to delay the vote until after the Israeli general election, in January, fearing that Netanyahu's response may be made stronger by electoral considerations. Israel recognises that the general assembly is all but certain to back the Palestinian move so it has focused its efforts on pressing European governments in particular to oppose or abstain in an effort to deny the vote legitimacy. Israel reasons that if most European governments and the US fail to support implicit recognition of a Palestinian state then it will be able to argue that Abbas has only the backing of dictatorships and less free countries. European attempts to forge a common position have foundered, with Germany opposing the Palestinian request and France's president, François Hollande, wavering but then favouring it again. Britain has also come under pressure from Arab countries that have made clear they regard the vote as a test of whether the UK is serious about pressing a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Israeli push against the statehood bid includes cartoons on YouTube that show Netanyahu and world leaders gathered around a dinner table waiting for Abbas to arrive for peace talks. "I am on my way to the UN. I am not coming to the table," he says. A second video shows Abbas driving a bus toward a cliff by pursuing the UN bid. The Palestinians chose 29 November as the date to submit the statehood request because it is the anniversary of the 1947 UN decision to partition British-mandate Palestine between Israel and an Arab state.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow live updates as protests in Cairo continue over Mohamed Morsi's decision to grant himself sweeping new powers
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | More than 100,000 gather to protest against a decree issued by Mohamed Morsi granting sweeping constitutional powers More than 100,000 people took to the streets of Cairo to protest against a decree by Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi that grants him sweeping constitutional powers. Columns of protesters from all over the Egyptian capital descended on Tahrir Square, the centre of the January 2011 revolution, in numbers that rivalled the rallies in the 18-day protest that toppled the authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak. "Dictator" was the word being used to describe Morsi's new status after last Thursday's decree, which grants the immunity for the president from judicial review as well protecting a controversial constitutional assembly dominated by the group he is affiliated with, the Muslim Brotherhood. "Today's protests are to overthrow oppression and stand up to the new dictatorship of Morsi, his decree and a constitution far removed from the revolution," said Haytham Mohamedeen of the Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists movement. "He has to back down. The revolution and the streets will dictate what he will do. If he stands in the way of the revolution he will share the same fate as Mubarak." Other marchers – who took to the streets in numbers similar to those that toppled Mubarak – called for Morsi not merely to rescind his decree but to step down from the presidency. The iconic chant of the 2011 revolution – "The people want to bring down the regime" – was echoed in other major Egyptian cities, including Alexandria and Suez. Police continuously fired tear gas not far from Tahrir Square, and fighting between police and protesters continued nearby even while people continued to mill in. Among them was Mohamed ElBaradei, the former IAEA chief who has taken on the role of coordinator of a national salvation front set up to unite opposition parties opposed to the decree. Rami Ghanem of the National Front for Justice and Democracy said that Morsi's decree had galvanized and united Egypt's disparate opposition groups. "Most political movements have joined a salvation front with a united political bureau," he said. "What we have failed to do in the past two years Morsi has achieved with his decree, uniting all of us. "Our objection is to the decree irrespective of which president issued it. Killing continues by the Ministry of Interior and governments that do this must be removed. We cannot accept anymore transgressions, so this may escalate to peaceful civil disobedience." On Monday night, after a meeting with the supreme judicial authority, the presidency issued a statement clarifying the decree and stating that Morsi would only use the new powers for "sovereign matters", which is presumed to mean anything that relates to national security. A counter protest planned by the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups was postponed to avoid confrontation with those inflamed by the perceived power grab. Neither of these concessions was enough to stop the protests. "Morsi has no credibility anymore," said Mohamed Eissa Moussa, a merchant participating in one of the marches. "He must step down. Neither he nor the Muslim Brotherhood can be trusted anymore. He is not working for the revolution, but for himself and his brotherhood. Had he been different I would have supported him." "He's appropriated the revolution and what's worse, he's claiming it's in the name of the revolution," said Ahmed Bakr, a member of Egypt's doctors union, "This is a pivotal moment, if we accept his decree the revolution is over. This isn't democracy and their adoption of such a decree is farcical. The Brotherhood have no shame and Morsi is tearing this country apart." Tahrir square had almost filled up with people even before the separate marches had reached it early in the evening. Adapted anti-Mubarak chants calling for the heads of Morsi and the Brotherhood reverberated from the city's buildings. However, the Twitter account of the Muslim Brotherhood's official English-language website, Ikhwanweb, seemed unperturbed with the numbers out in protest, first dismissing the "low turnout" in Tahrir and then stating that opposition forces pleased about 300,000 protesters should "brace [themselves] for [the] millions" that would come out in support of Morsi. "On #Jan25, united Egyptns (Islamists, liberals,leftists) revolted against autocracy,supported by millions across country,today is politics," Ikhwanweb tweeted. Morsi, recently emboldened on the international stage with his success in reaching a truce between Hamas and Israel, has defended his decree by stating that it was necessary to defend the revolution from remnants of the Mubarak regime, much to the chagrin of many of the protesters. The number of fatalities in a week of unrest reached four on Tuesday with news of the death of Fathi Gharib, a member of the Socialist Popular Alliance party, who was reported to have died after inhaling tear gas.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | You are three times more likely to die from a falling coconut than win the prize, but states bank on soaring sales to fill budget gaps The Powerball jackpot has reached $500m, making it the biggest prize fund in the history of the US-based lottery. But the chances of landing the record payout are slim: the organizers of the lottery put the odds at one in 175m. According to ABC News, you are three times more likely to die from a falling coconut. The big jackpot is not unexpected: in fact, it is part of a plan put in place early this year to build prize funds faster, drive sales and generate more money for the states that run the game. Powerball tickets doubled in price in January to $2, and while the number of tickets sold initially dropped, sales revenue has increased by about 35% over 2011. Sales for Powerball reached a record $3.96bn in the 2012 fiscal year and are expected to reach $5bn this year, said Chuck Strutt, executive director of the the Multi-State Lottery Association, the Des Moines-based group that runs the Powerball game. There has been no Powerball winner since 6 October, and the jackpot already has reached a record level for the game. It's the second highest jackpot in US lottery history, behind only the $656m Mega Millions prize in March. It took nine weeks for the Mega Millions jackpot to get that high, before three winners – from Kansas, Illinois and Maryland – hit the right numbers, each collecting $218.6m for their share of the split. With soaring jackpots come soaring sales, and for the states playing the game, that means higher revenue. "The purpose for the lottery is to generate revenue for the respective states and their beneficiary programs," Norm Lingle, chairman of the Powerball Game Group, told the Associated Press. "High jackpots certainly help the lottery achieve those goals." Where does the money go? Of the $2 cost of a Powerball ticket, $1 goes to the prizes and the other dollar is kept by the state lottery organization, said Lingle, who also is executive director of the South Dakota lottery. After administrative overhead is paid, the remaining amount goes to that state's beneficiary programs. Some states designate specific expenditures such as education, while others deposit the money in their general fund to help supplement tax revenue. The federal government keeps 25% of the jackpot for federal taxes. Most states withhold between 5% and 7%. There's no withholding in states without a state income tax such as Delaware, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Texas. A New York City winner would pay more than 12% in tax because the state takes 8.97% and the city keeps 3.6%. Powerball and Mega Millions games are seeing jackpots grow faster and higher in part because the states that play both games agreed in 2010 to sell to one another. Both games are now played in 42 states, Washington, DC, and the Virgin Islands. The larger pool of players means jackpots roll over to higher numbers faster, which tends to increase the buzz about the jackpots which increases sales. It all can result in higher jackpots sooner. "It really happened with both of these games became national games," said Terry Rich, chief of the Iowa lottery. Still, just seven of the top 25 jackpots occurred after January 2010 when the cross-selling began. That just points to the unpredictability of games of chance like lotteries. It still comes down to the luck of the numbers, Rich said. It has been proven that once the jackpot reaches a certain threshold more players buy. Between $20m and $30m in tickets were sold between Wednesday and Saturday drawings for most of October. Once the jackpot hit $100m on Oct. 27, nearly $38m worth of tickets were sold by 31 October. As the jackpot grew to more than $200m on 17 November, sales surged by nearly $70m by the following Wednesday. Then the jackpot reached over $300m on 24 November and ticket sales over the next four days surpassed $140m. "Somewhere around $100m those occasional players seem to come back into the stores in droves," said Rich, of the Iowa lottery. The lottery also notices a significant increase in workers and other groups joining together in pools to combine resources to buy numbers, he said. Trina Small, manager at the convenience store in Bondurant, Iowa, where a couple bought a $202m ticket on 26 September, said sales have been heavy. She said Monday night Powerball sales were at about $800, at least $200 more than normal. She expects Tuesday and Wednesday sales to be even higher.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Samples taken from corpse of late PLO leader will be used to investigate claims he was poisoned with a radioactive substance Yasser Arafat was buried eight years ago to a chorus of gunfire before a crowd of thousands amid the rubble of his Ramallah headquarters. Yesterday, the gravediggers who came to disinter him slipped in under cover of darkness. For hours they hacked through the several metres of concrete that were supposed to ensure that no one could ever desecrate his body. The Palestinian leadership had the Israelis in mind when it buried the old revolutionary so deep and secure. Eight years after his death, it was Arafat's widow, Suha, who had him brought up again as part of a French murder investigation into whether he was slowly killed by a radioactive poison, polonium-210 – the same substance used to murder the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 – after it was detected on his clothes earlier this year. The plan had been to move Arafat's corpse to a mosque for religious rites to be observed before samples were taken by rival teams of scientists hired by Suha and the Palestinian Authority, who are deeply distrustful of each other. After that, there was to be a reburial with full military honours. But once the concrete was finally hacked through, Arafat's remains were in no state to be moved. Instead the coffin was lifted out for Palestinian doctors, working under the watchful eye of the foreign scientists, to take about 20 samples to be tested for poisons as well as polonium. Then it was resealed and reburied. The military honours were cancelled on the grounds that Arafat wasn't being reburied because he hadn't been removed from his coffin. Tawfiq al-Tirawi, the head of the Palestinian committee investigating Arafat's death, said it all went according to plan. "Only Palestinian hands touched the remains," he said. It was a stunning contrast to the Palestine Liberation Organisation leader's burial, when crowds pressed into the rubble of his headquarters, the Muqata, which had been flattened by Israeli tanks. The Muqata has since been rebuilt and transformed into a sprawling presidential palace of Jerusalem stone. Arafat's mausoleum is now a towering quad of limestone and glass, a reflecting pool, and an honour guard. But all of that was hidden behind large blue plastic sheets, hung to shield the exhumation from outsiders. Palestinian officials justified the secretiveness as necessary to protect the dignity of Arafat's remains. But the opaque handling of the process reflected the doubts among some about where this could all lead. Many ordinary Palestinians have long believed Arafat was murdered by Israel, but they are divided over whether that warrants digging him up. "He should have been left alone," said Munir Jaara at a coffee shop close to the Muqata. "We all know the Israelis killed him so what's it going to prove to disturb his body? It's disrespectful." Ghada Nayfeh demurred. "We need to find the truth. It was very suspicious how he died, just like that under siege from the Israelis," she said. If Arafat was murdered, the guilty party is assumed by Palestinians to be the Israelis. But if that is the case, it's unlikely they could have got to him without inside help. The speed of Arafat's death aged 75 after a short, unexplained illness fed the suspicions of foul play that took hold among Palestinians almost immediately after his funeral even though French officials determined that he died at a Paris military hospital from a stroke caused by a blood disorder. Suha Arafat refused to permit an autopsy at the time. But earlier this year she gave some of her late husband's personal items, including his toothbrush, underwear and kaffiyeh to Al Jazeera television which sent them to Switzerland for tests. The Institut de Radiophysique discovered abnormal levels of polonium-210. The tests were inconclusive, however, and so Suha Arafat, a French citizen, asked the French government to launch a murder inquiry. The Palestinian Authority, suspicious of Arafat's widow – who is not a popular figure among Palestinians in part in part because she is regarded as having enriched herself – and the French and Swiss experts she hired, called in Russian scientists to do separate analysis. This week, French magistrates have been questioning Palestinian officials who were besieged with Arafat in the Muqata because it's unlikely the PLO leader's food or drink could have been poisoned without a collaborator in the building. The Israelis had an opportunity to interfere with food deliveries which passed through their checkpoints during the siege. But they had no way of knowing who would be eating what and the fact that there was no mass poisoning inside the Muqata would mean that Arafat's food was contaminated by someone with direct access to it. Israel has repeatedly denied killing Arafat and called on the Palestinian leadership to release his medical records, which it has steadfastly refused to do.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, is meeting with senators who were critical of her role in explaining the Benghazi consulate attack
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | President Obama reaches out to rally public opinion behind his solutions to Congress's tax and spending crunch
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jobbik party's Marton Gyongyosi urged authorities to 'tally up' number of Jews who pose a 'national security risk' The Hungarian government and Jewish leaders have roundly condemned a politician who called for a survey of Jewish people thought to pose an alleged "national security risk", accusing him of fearmongering in a country still struggling with the legacy of the Holocaust. In comments deemed extreme even for his rabble-rousing far-right party, Jobbik, Marton Gyongyosi urged the authorities on Monday to "tally up" the number of Jews in Hungary, especially those in the parliament and government. Such an exercise was, he claimed, "timely" given the conflict raging in the Middle East. The government denounced the remarks, made in an address to parliament. It said it "strictly rejects extremist, racist, antisemitic voices of any kind and does everything to suppress such voices". Jewish groups reacted with horror and incredulity at the comments, which they said brought back echoes of a dark past. "I am a Holocaust survivor," Gusztav Zoltai, executive director of the Hungarian Jewish Congregations' Association, told Associated Press. "For people like me this generates raw fear, even though it is clear that this only serves political ends. This is the shame of Europe, the shame of the world." Jobbik, of which Gyongyosi is deputy parliamentary group leader, is the third-largest political movement in Hungary, holding more than 40 of 386 seats in parliament. Critics say its MPs have made a string of antisemitic, anti-Roma and homophobic remarks – but the party has never made a public appeal for a survey of Hungarian Jews. "I know how many people with Hungarian ancestry live in Israel, and how many Israeli Jews live in Hungary," Gyongyosi told parliament, according to a video. "I think such a conflict makes it timely to tally up people of Jewish ancestry who live here, especially in the Hungarian parliament and the Hungarian government, who, indeed, pose a national security risk to Hungary." On Tuesday, Gyongyosi said he was sorry for making comments which "could be misunderstood". He had been referring, he claimed, to people with dual Israeli-Hungarian citizenship. The apology is unlikely to reassure those profoundly disturbed by his earlier comments. "Jobbik has moved from representing medieval superstition [of blood libel] to openly Nazi ideologies," wrote Slomo Koves, chief rabbi of the Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow live updates as protests in Cairo continue over Mohamed Morsi's decision to grant himself sweeping new powers
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, is meeting with senators who were critical of her role in explaining the Benghazi consulate attack
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | M23 seen entering bank and loading bags into cars after refusing to withdraw from city Congo rebels appeared to be looting the central bank in Goma after refusing to withdraw from the city they captured last week. M23 fighters surrounded the bank early this afternoon and were seen loading white bags into cars. The armed rebels looked nervous and ordered the Guardian to leave the area. "They're looting the bank," a UN source said. Later another UN source denied that there had been money in the bags, insisting they were full of beans. In a press conference in the morning on Tuesday the rebel leader Bishop Jean-Marie Runiga said M23 would refuse to obey a call by regional leaders of the International Conference of the Great Lakes to leave the capital of North Kivu province to pave the way for peace talks. A withdrawal would be the result, not a precondition, of negotiation, Runiga said. "I demand the following of [the Congolese president] Joseph Kabila, if M23 is to withdraw [from Goma]," he said, before outlining a series of conditions. Notably, he demanded freedom for the opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi and other political prisoners, the dissolution of the electoral commission, and an investigation into the attempted murder of Dr Denis Mukwege. "If [Kabila] does this then there is no problem, we can talk immediately about leaving the town," said Runiga. A spokesman for the Democratic Republic of the Congo government, Lambert Mende, told Reuters these conditions were a farce. "It's a farce, that's the word," he said. "There's been a document adopted by the region [to move towards negotiations]. If each day they're going to come back with new demands it becomes ridiculous. We're no longer in the realms of seriousness." The army spokesman Colonel Olivier Hamuli said his forces would take action against the rebels. "If they will not leave Goma then war will continue," he said. "We must recapture the territory that the rebels have taken." Meanwhile there were reports of an attack by the extremist rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), who are enemies of the M23, over the border in Rwanda. Brigadier General Joseph Nzabamwita, the Rwandan army spokesman, told Reuters 150 rebel fighters attacked villages in Rwanda near the Congolese border. FDLR denied their involvement. Runiga accused the Congolese army of collaborating in the operation, a claim denied by the Congolese army. "M23 control the border [with Rwanda]. Where are we supposed to have crossed?" asked the Hamuli, the army spokesman. There were reports of fighting between the Congolese army and M23 near the village of Shasha about 21 miles (35km) west of Goma overnight between Monday and Tuesday. A UN source said that neither the army nor M23 had significantly changed their positions after the clash. M23 is a reference to 23 March, the day in 2009 when the Congolese government signed a peace deal with various rebel groups operating in the east of the country. M23 wants to discuss these accords which, it says, were not adhered to by the government. However, Runiga on Tuesday said their demands now went further than simply revisiting the three-year-old peace deal. "Between 2009 and 2012 many things have happened. There are many problems in Congo which persist," he said. "We want negotiations, but only on the condition that we re-evaluate [the 2009] accords and also deal with fundamental questions about the life of the nation." Corruption, infrastructure, education, health, security and democracy were all on M23's agenda for discussion, Runiga said.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | M23 fighters are seen surrounding bank and loading bags into cars after refusing to withdraw from city Congo rebels have looted the central bank in Goma after refusing to withdraw from the city they captured last week. M23 fighters surrounded the bank early this afternoon, and were seen loading white bags into cars. The rebel soldiers looked nervous and ordered the Guardian to leave the area. "They're looting the bank," a UN source said. Earlier on Tuesday the rebel leader Bishop Jean-Marie Runiga said M23 would refuse to obey a call by regional leaders of the International Conference of the Great Lakes to leave the capital of North Kivu province to pave the way for peace talks. A withdrawal would be the result, not a precondition, of negotiation, Runiga said. "I demand the following of [the Congolese president] Joseph Kabila, if M23 is to withdraw [from Goma]," he said at a press conference in Goma, before outlining a series of conditions. Notably, he demanded freedom for the opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi and other political prisoners, the dissolution of the electoral commission, and an investigation into the attempted murder of Dr Denis Mukwege. "If [Kabila] does this then there is no problem, we can talk immediately about leaving the town," said Runiga. A spokesman for the Democratic Republic of the Congo government, Lambert Mende, told Reuters these conditions were a farce. "It's a farce, that's the word," he said. "There's been a document adopted by the region [to move towards negotiations]. If each day they're going to come back with new demands it becomes ridiculous. We're no longer in the realms of seriousness." The army spokesman Colonel Olivier Hamuli said his forces would take action against the rebels. "If they will not leave Goma then war will continue," he said. "We must recapture the territory that the rebels have taken." Meanwhile there were reports of an attack by the extremist rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), who are enemies of the M23, over the border in Rwanda. Brigadier General Joseph Nzabamwita, the Rwandan army spokesman, told Reuters 150 rebel fighters attacked villages in Rwanda near the Congolese border. FDLR denied their involvement. Runiga accused the Congolese army of collaborating in the operation, a claim denied by the Congolese army. "M23 control the border [with Rwanda]. Where are we supposed to have crossed?" asked the Hamuli, the army spokesman. There were reports of fighting between the Congolese army and M23 near the village of Shasha about 21 miles (35km) west of Goma overnight between Monday and Tuesday. A UN source said that neither the army nor M23 had significantly changed their positions after the clash. M23 is a reference to 23 March, the day in 2009 when the Congolese government signed a peace deal with various rebel groups operating in the east of the country. M23 wants to discuss these accords which, it says, were not adhered to by the government. However, Runiga on Tuesday said their demands now went further than simply revisiting the three-year-old peace deal. "Between 2009 and 2012 many things have happened. There are many problems in Congo which persist," he said. "We want negotiations, but only on the condition that we re-evaluate [the 2009] accords and also deal with fundamental questions about the life of the nation." Corruption, infrastructure, education, health, security and democracy were all on M23's agenda for discussion, Runiga said.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Bank governor denies staff reluctant to speak out, after report reveals concern among junior workers Sir Mervyn King has denied there is an intimidatory culture at Threadneedle Street, and insisted his staff at the Bank of England were happy to express dissent. Responding to a report that junior staff were reluctant to speak out as a result of the "autocratic culture" at the Bank, the governor said he did not recognise the description. "There is no stifling of dissent," King told MPs on the Treasury select committee on Tuesday. "There is no shortage of people prepared to put their hand up and say 'I don't agree with you'." The governor said he made a point of talking to junior staff about their work and asking them their views. "This organisation has always encouraged debate," he said, adding that he had been keen to promote bright young officials from the ranks. Paul Fisher, the Bank's executive director for markets, said it was important to respect the staff views expressed to Bill Withers, who produced one of three reports on the internal operation of Threadneedle Street. He said the Bank should consider why junior staff had the perception that they "can't put unpalatable views" to senior staff. King admitted under questioning from the committee's chairman, Andrew Tyrie, that the Bank had been forced to revise down its forecasts for the economy's likely performance in 2013 and 2014. After criticism that the Bank had been far too optimistic, King said it was now recognised that there was little prospect of a rapid recovery in the next two years. "We should have done this earlier and we didn't," he said. Events overseas during 2012 – the failure to resolve the eurozone crisis, the tepid US recovery and the slowdown in the leading emerging market economies – had combined to make the Bank rule out the possibility that the UK would post strong growth rates of 4%-plus in 2013 and 2014. King, who retires next summer, praised the appointment of Mark Carney, currently the governor of the Bank of Canada, as his successor. "I am confident that I will be leaving the Bank in good hands", he said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Workers march in protest after more than 100 people were killed in blaze at factory, which supplied C&A and Walmart A blaze which killed more than 100 textile workers in a clothing factory supplying western high street brands was deliberately started, according to officials in Bangladesh. As more details emerged of the lapses that turned the nine-story factory on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka into a death-trap on Saturday night, companies including the European clothing story C&A and the giant US retailer Walmart admitted they had contracts with the owners for the supply of sweatshirts and other products. Tuesday was an official day of mourning in the poor south Asian country. Hundreds of workers, some carrying black flags, demonstrated in the Ashulia industrial belt on the outskirts of the capital where the factory is located. They blocked traffic moving on a highway and vowed to avenge the deaths of their colleagues, witnesses said. "Never shall we give up demands for punishment for those responsible for the tragedy," one worker said. The fire has put a spotlight on global retailers that source clothes from Bangladesh, where the cost of labour is low and regulation minimal. Thorsten Rolfes, head of corporate communications for C&A Europe, said the victims of the fire and their families were "in our thoughts and prayers". The company said it had ordered 220,000 sweaters from the factory to be delivered to C&A Brazil between December 2012 and February 2013. Walmart said the factory, owned by Tazreen Fashions, had been making clothes for the US retail giant without its knowledge. Tazreen was given a "high risk" safety rating after a May 2011 audit conducted by an "ethical sourcing" assessor for Walmart, according to a document posted on the website of Tazreen's parent company, the Tuba Group. Walmart said the factory was no longer authorised to produce merchandise for them but that a supplier subcontracted work to it "in direct violation of our policies". The retailer said it had stopped doing business with the supplier on Monday. "The fact that this occurred is extremely troubling to us, and we will continue to work across the apparel industry to improve fire safety education and training in Bangladesh," Walmart said in a statement. Bangladesh's interior minister, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, said a preliminary inquiry had concluded the fire was the result of arson. "We have come to the conclusion that it was an act of sabotage. We are finding out as of now who exactly the saboteurs are and all culprits will be brought to book," Alamgir said. Earlier, the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, said she suspected the fire was an act of sabotage but she did not identify any suspect or say why she thought the cause might have been arson. However Major Mohammad Mahbub, the fire department operations director, said investigators suspected a short circuit caused the fire. But he added that if the building had had even one emergency exit, "the casualties would have been much lower". Survivors told the Guardian that factory managers had stopped workers from running out of the building when a fire alarm went off. They described how doors were locked, forcing trapped victims to jump to their deaths. The managing director of Tazreen Fashions factory, Delwar Hossein, said his company had taken every possible precaution to protect workers. The factory is one of around 4,000 such installations in Bangladesh. The country annually earns about £12.5bn from exports of garments, mainly to the US and Europe. Earlier this year, more than 300 factories near the capital were shut for almost a week as workers demanded higher wages and better working conditions. Siddiq Ur Rahman, acting president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the families of the dead would receive 100,000 taka (£760) as compensation.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Death of Maria Susana Flores Gamez mirrors film portrayal of pageant contestants' links with 'narco' gangs A 20-year-old Mexican beauty queen has died in a gun battle between soldiers and the suspected drug traffickers she was travelling with. The body of Maria Susana Flores Gamez was found on Saturday near an assault rifle on a rural road in a mountainous area of the drug-plagued state of Sinaloa, the chief state prosecutor said on Monday. It was unclear if she had used the gun. "She was with the gang of criminals, but we cannot say whether she participated in the shootout," said the state prosecutor, Marco Antonio Higuera. Flores Gamez was voted Woman of Sinaloa 2012 in a beauty pageant in February. In June, the model lost out in the state beauty contest, the winner of which competes for the title Miss Mexico title, and the chance to represent the country in the international Miss Universe contest. Higuera said Flores Gamez had been travelling in one of several vehicles that engaged soldiers in an hours-long chase and running gun battle on Saturday near her native city of Guamúchil in Sinaloa, home to Mexico's most powerful drug cartel. Higuera said two others were killed and four of the drug gang were detained. The shootout began after the gunmen opened fire on a Mexican army patrol. They were cornered at a safehouse in the town of Mocorito. Some of the group escaped and the gunbattle continued along a nearby road, where the gang's vehicles were eventually stopped. Six vehicles, drugs and weapons were seized. It was at least the third time a beauty queen or pageant contestants have been linked to Mexico's violent drug gangs. The theme was made the subject of a critically acclaimed 2011 movie, Miss Bala. Mexico's official submission to the best foreign language film category of this year's Academy Awards, it features a young woman competing for Miss Baja California who becomes an unwilling participant in a drug-running ring, finally getting arrested for deeds she was forced to perform. In real life, former Miss Sinaloa Laura Zúñiga was stripped of her 2008 crown in the Reina Hispanoamerican pageant after being detained on suspicion of drug and weapons violations. She was later released without charge. Zúñiga was detained in western Mexico in late 2010 along with seven men, some of them suspected drug traffickers. Authorities found a large stash of weapons, ammunition and $53,300 with them inside a vehicle. In 2011, a Colombian former model and pageant contestant was detained along with José Jorge Balderas, an accused drug trafficker and suspect in the shooting in a bar in 2010 of Salvador Cabañas, a former star for Paraguay's national football team and Mexico's Club America. She was also later released. Higuera said Flores Gamez's body has been given to relatives for burial. "This is a sad situation," Higuera told a local radio station. She had been enrolled in media courses at a local university, and had been modelling and in pageants since at least 2009. Javier Valdez, the author of a 2009 book about drugs ties to beauty pageants, entitled Miss Narco, said: "This is a recurrent story. There is a relationship, sometimes pleasant and sometimes tragic, between organised crime and the beauty queens, the pageants, the beauty industry itself. "It is a question of privilege, power, money, but also a question of need," said Valdez. "For a lot of these young women, it is easy to get involved with organised crime, in a country that doesn't offer many opportunities for young people." Sometimes drug traffickers seek out beauty queens, but sometimes the models themselves look for boyfriends among the narcotics gangs, Valdez said. "I once wrote about a girl I knew of who was desperate to get a narco boyfriend," he said. "She practically took out a classified ad saying 'Looking for a Narco'." The stories seldom end well. In the best of cases, a beautiful woman with a tear-stained face is marched before the press in handcuffs. In the worst of cases, they simply disappear. "They are disposable objects, the lowest link in the chain of criminal organisations, the young men recruited as gunmen and the pretty young women who are tossed away in two or three years, or are turned in to police or killed," Valdez said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Experts warn that China's apparent claims to other territories could have a long-term impact on relations with its neighbours It took just one little map to create a regional diplomatic dispute. The map, in China's newly designed passport, claims ownership of the entire South China Sea – parts of which are also claimed by Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia – as well as disputed areas on the China-India border and two Taiwanese tourist destinations. The Philippines, Vietnam, India and Taiwan have all vehemently protested against the new microchip-equipped passport, which essentially forces neighbouring countries to validate China's position on contested regions. Vietnam and the Philippines lodged formal complaints last week with Chinese embassies in Hanoi and Manila, respectively. India's external affairs minister, Salman Khursid, called the map "unacceptable". "China has ignored the truth and sparked disputes," said a statement from Taiwan's mainland affairs council. Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Renmin University in Beijing, warned the row could have long-term consequences. "Especially in the East and South China Seas, both sides have taken a confrontational approach," said Shi. "This kind of situation will have a long-term impact on east Asian security and the relations between these countries." In addition to demarcating the potentially resource-rich, 3.5m sq km South China Sea as Chinese territory, the map also encompasses the Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin regions on the border with India (the source of 15 failed negotiations between the two countries) and depictions of two popular tourist sites in Taiwan – Sun Moon Lake and Qingshui Cliff. Notably, it does not show the disputed Diaoyu Islands in the East China sea (called the Senkakus by Japan, which has repeatedly laid claim to the islands, prompting riots in Chinese cities last month). Some countries have found creative ways to address the issue. Vietnam has refused to stamp the new passport at border crossings, opting to staple visas to its pages instead. The Indian embassy in Beijing has been stamping the passports with another map depicting the two disputed Himalayan regions as India's territory. Bruce Jacobs, a professor of East Asian studies at Monash University in Australia, said the map underscored China's increasing boldness in laying claim to the disputed territories, adding that the country lacked institutions such as a free media that could keep its foreign policy decisions in check. China sent maritime surveillance ships to a string of disputed islands by the Philippines in the spring, leading to protests in Manila and high-level diplomatic complaints. "In some ways it's the balance of power theory: one nation gets too big, and other nations get together to oppose it," he said. "If anything I think it's counterproductive for the Chinese, but I don't think they have the feedback mechanisms to tell them that." Zha Daojiong, an international relations expert at Peking University, said the real reason why Chinese authorities decided to print the map on passports is difficult to discern. "We have different agencies, different individuals," he said. "Sometimes people assume it's all very well co-ordinated, but that may not always be the case."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Soldier allegedly behind WikiLeaks documents leak to be called as a witness Tuesday in first public statement since 2010 Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of being behind the largest leak of state secrets in US history, is expected this week to speak publicly for the first time since his arrest in May 2010. The alleged source of the massive WikiLeaks dump of hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables and war logs is expected to be called as a witness at the latest pre-trial hearing opening in Fort Meade army base in Maryland on Tuesday afternoon. His direct address to the court will be a poignant event that will be followed closely by both his supporters, who see him as a heroic whistleblower, and his detractors, who regard him as a traitor. Jeff Paterson of the Bradley Manning support network said it would be a very telling moment. "Until now we've only heard from Bradley through his family and lawyers, so it's going to be a real insight into his personality to hear him speak for himself for the first time." The hearing, slated to last until Sunday, also marks a crucial stage in the legal proceedings in the run-up to a full court martial scheduled for 4 February. Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, is seeking to have any eventual sentence imposed on the soldier radically reduced or even entirely negated on the grounds that he was subjected to pre-trial punishment while he was confined at Quantico marine base in Virginia. Manning's harsh treatment during the nine months he was held in the brig at Quantico, from 29 July 2010 to 20 April 2011, have become something of a cause célèbre, with several influential people and organisations castigating the military authorities for subjecting him to a form of torture. The treatment led to a wave of international indignation, from figures as diverse as the UN rapporteur on torture, Amnesty International, leading law scholars and PJ Crowley, then spokesman at the US state department, who resigned in protest. Manning's lawyers are expected to make the case to the military judge presiding of the pre-trial proceedings, Colonel Denise Lind, that commanders at the brig in Quantico ignored expert medical advice in subjecting the soldier to prolonged solitary confinement. Coombs has requested to call eight witnesses in total, though it is not clear how many of those have been cleared by Lind. According to the Manning support network, the first witnesses are likely to be the Quantico commanders in charge of the brig during the nine months in which Manning was held there. Legal documents released by Coombs earlier this year alleged that one of the commanders told his staff that "we will do whatever we want to do" with the captive soldier. There may also be an attempt to show that the orders relating to Manning came from higher up the military hierarchy, from a three-star general, suggesting they may have had a political motivation. Next up are likely to be at least two military psychiatrists who will be asked to testify that they recommended on numerous occasions that Manning be taken off the so-called "prevention of injury" order, or PoI, that kept him in effective solitary confinement. Official records have shown that the psychiatrists made at least 16 official reports to military commanders that Manning was not a threat to himself or others and therefore should not have been subjected to extraordinary treatment. He was held in his cell for 23 hours a day, withheld possessions, checked every five minutes and stripped naked at night in humiliating fashion. Manning himself is likely to be the last of the defence witnesses called, after which the army prosecutors will have the floor.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Soldier allegedly behind WikiLeaks documents leak to be called as a witness in first public statement since 2010 Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of being behind the largest leak of state secrets in US history, is expected this week to speak publicly for the first time since his arrest in May 2010. The alleged source of the massive WikiLeaks dump of hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables and war logs is expected to be called as a witness at the latest pre-trial hearing opening in Fort Meade army base in Maryland on Tuesday afternoon. His direct address to the court will be a poignant event that will be followed closely by both his supporters, who see him as a heroic whistleblower, and his detractors, who regard him as a traitor. Jeff Paterson of the Bradley Manning support network said it would be a very telling moment. "Until now we've only heard from Bradley through his family and lawyers, so it's going to be a real insight into his personality to hear him speak for himself for the first time." The hearing, slated to last until Sunday, also marks a crucial stage in the legal proceedings in the run-up to a full court martial scheduled for 4 February. Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, is seeking to have any eventual sentence imposed on the soldier radically reduced or even entirely negated on the grounds that he was subjected to pre-trial punishment while he was confined at Quantico marine base in Virginia. Manning's harsh treatment during the nine months he was held in the brig at Quantico, from 29 July 2010 to 20 April 2011, have become something of a cause célèbre, with several influential people and organisations castigating the military authorities for subjecting him to a form of torture. The treatment led to a wave of international indignation, from figures as diverse as the UN rapporteur on torture, Amnesty International, leading law scholars and PJ Crowley, then spokesman at the US state department, who resigned in protest. Manning's lawyers are expected to make the case to the military judge presiding of the pre-trial proceedings, Colonel Denise Lind, that commanders at the brig in Quantico ignored expert medical advice in subjecting the soldier to prolonged solitary confinement. Coombs has requested to call eight witnesses in total, though it is not clear how many of those have been cleared by Lind. According to the Manning support network, the first witnesses are likely to be the Quantico commanders in charge of the brig during the nine months in which Manning was held there. Legal documents released by Coombs earlier this year alleged that one of the commanders told his staff that "we will do whatever we want to do" with the captive soldier. There may also be an attempt to show that the orders relating to Manning came from higher up the military hierarchy, from a three-star general, suggesting they may have had a political motivation. Next up are likely to be at least two military psychiatrists who will be asked to testify that they recommended on numerous occasions that Manning be taken off the so-called "prevention of injury" order, or PoI, that kept him in effective solitary confinement. Official records have shown that the psychiatrists made at least 16 official reports to military commanders that Manning was not a threat to himself or others and therefore should not have been subjected to extraordinary treatment. He was held in his cell for 23 hours a day, withheld possessions, checked every five minutes and stripped naked at night in humiliating fashion. Manning himself is likely to be the last of the defence witnesses called, after which the army prosecutors will have the floor.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Report says 'intensified euro area crisis' could destroy growth in Europe and also wipe out US recovery, causing recession Europe's debt crisis remains a far bigger threat to the world's economy than the "fiscal cliff", according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In its latest report the economic think tank says an escalation in the ongoing European crisis could drag Europe into a deep recession in the next two years and the US along with it. The report comes as politicians in Washington are increasingly focussed on the fiscal cliff – the year end expiration of wide-ranging tax cuts and the imposition of draconian spending cuts. The crisis has rattled investors and business leaders around the world. A series of reports from the Congressional Budget Office and the White House have emphasised the threat the fiscal cliff poses as Europe's woes seem to have dropped off Washington's agenda. OECD chief economist Pier Carlo Padoan said the US's budget spat posed significant threats to the US and the global economy but said that Europe presented a larger challenge. "We believe that the European crisis represents the largest risk to the global economy," he said. Padoan said an escalation in Europe's fiscal problems threatened "the global economy, including the US". According to OECD calculations the eurozone should return to growth next year while the US should grow at 2% next year and close to 3% in 2014. But an "intensified euro area crisis" would wipe out growth in Europe, plunging the economy into a deep recession. It would also wipe out the US's recovery, causing a shallow recession. Padoan said the "worst-case scenario" was for a fresh crisis in Europe and a collapse in the fiscal cliff talks. But he added that both crises represented opportunities for politicians. "The common element is that there is the possibility for policymakers to take defensive action. There is lots of room for upside scenarios," he said. The economist said that businesses were increasingly uncertain about the future. "The major cause of that is policy uncertainty both in the US and Europe," he said. The fiscal cliff was created in an attempt to force Republicans and Democrats to negotiate as the US struggles to cut its record $16tn debts. Padoan said that it was important for the US to reduce its debts in the medium term but that too rapid a reduction runs "a very high risk of pushing the economy back into recession".
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Chasing Ice, a documentary by the producers of Academy award-winning The Cove, tells the story of James Balog's mission to capture visual evidence of the effect of climate change on our planet
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow live updates after the Egyptian president's offer to limit his new powers to sovereign issues failed to placate judges and protesters
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow live updates as protests in Cairo continue over Mohamed Morsi's decision to grant himself sweeping new powers
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