| |  | | | | | 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 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Overnight, EU leaders agreed to plot a route towards closer economic and monetary union. Talks continue this morning
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Failure to sign agreement at ITU conference stops governments having greater powers to control phone calls and data A proposed global telecoms treaty that would give national governments control of the internet has been blocked by the US and key western and African nations. They said they are "not able to sign the agreement in its current form" at the end of a International Telecoms Union (ITU) conference in Dubai. The proposals, coming after two weeks of complex negotiation, would have given individual governments greater powers to control international phone calls and data traffic, but were opposed as the conference had seemed to be drawing to a close late on Thursday. The move seems to safeguard the role of the internet as an unregulated, international service that runs on top of telecoms systems free of direct interference by national governments. The US was first to declare its opposition to the draft treaty. "It is with a heavy heart and a sense of missed opportunities that I have to announce that the United States must communicate that it is unable to sign the agreement in its current form," Terry Kramer, head of the US delegation, told the conference, after what had looked like a final draft was approved. "The internet has given the world unimaginable economic and social benefit during these past 24 years. All without UN regulation. We candidly cannot support an ITU Treaty that is inconsistent with the multi-stakeholder model of internet governance." The US was joined in its opposition by the UK, Canada, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Kenya, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Qatar and Sweden. All said they would not sign the proposed final text, meaning that although a number of other countries will sign it, the treaty cannot be effectively implemented. "In the end, the ITU and the conference chair, having backed themselves to the edge of a cliff, dared governments to push them off," commented Kieren McCarthy, who runs the internet consultancy dot-nxt. "They duly did." But Access Now, a lobbying group against ITU oversight of the internet, said that "despite all of the assurances of the ITU secretariat that the WCIT wouldn't discuss internet governance, the final treaty text contains a resolution that explicitly 'instructs the [ITU] secretary-general to take the necessary steps for the ITU to play and active and constructive role in... the internet.'" It urged governments not to sign it. The ITU is a UN organisation responsible for coordinating telecoms use around the world. The conference was meant to update international treaties which have not evolved since 1988, before the introduction of the internet. But the conference has been the source of huge controversy because the ITU has been accused of seeking to take control of the internet, and negotiating behind closed doors. Google has mounted a vociferous campaign against conference proposals that would have meant that content providers could be charged for sending data and which would have given national governments more control of how the internet works. Instead, lobbyists have said the treaties should simply not mention the internet at all because it is a service that runs atop telecoms systems. But a bloc led by Russia, with China and the United Arab Emirates – where the conference is being held – said the internet should be part of the treaties because it travels over telecoms networks. A Russia-driven vote late on Wednesday seemed to push to include the internet in a resolution – a move the US disagreed with. The failure to reach accord could mean that there will be regional differences in internet efficacy. "Maybe in the future we could come to a fragmented internet," Andrey Mukhanov, of Russia's Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, told the Reuters news agency. "That would be negative for all, and I hope our American and European colleagues come to a constructive position." The US and Europe have indicated that they instead want private companies to drive internet standards. McCarthy, who has published ITU planning documents that would otherwise have been kept out of sight on dot-nxt's website, criticised the conduct of the meeting: "attendees were stunned to find a conference style and approach stuck in the 1970s," he said. Writing on the dot-nxt site, he said: "A constant stream of information was available only in downloadable Word documents; disagreement was dealt with by increasingly small, closed groups of key government officials; voting was carried out by delegates physically raising large yellow paddles, and counted by staff who walked around the room; meetings ran until the early hours of the morning, and "consensus by exhaustion" was the only fall-back position." Attempts by the ITU to encourage the US to sign the proposed treaty by removing clauses – such as one that would give individual countries rights over website addresses – failed.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Derek Johnson publicly admonished for saying if woman doesn't want to have sex the body shuts down A southern California judge is being publicly admonished for saying a rape victim "didn't put up a fight" during her assault and that if someone doesn't want sexual intercourse the body "will not permit that to happen". The California Commission on Judicial Performance voted 10-0 to impose a public admonishment, saying superior court Judge Derek Johnson's comments were inappropriate and a breach of judicial ethics. "In the commission's view the judge's remarks reflected outdated, biased and insensitive views about sexual assault victims who do not 'put up a fight', wrote Lawrence J Simi, the commission's chairman. "Such comments cannot help but diminish public confidence and trust in the impartiality of the judiciary." Johnson made the comments in the case of a man who threatened to mutilate the face and genitals of his ex-girlfriend with a heated screwdriver, beat her with a metal baton and made other violent threats before committing rape and other crimes. Though the woman reported the criminal threats the next day, the woman did not report the rape until 17 days later. Johnson, a former prosecutor in the Orange County district attorney's sex crimes unit, said during the man's 2008 sentencing that he had seen violent cases on that unit. "I'm not a gynecologist but I can tell you something: if someone doesn't want to have sexual intercourse the body shuts down. The body will not permit that to happen unless a lot of damage is inflicted, and we heard nothing about that in this case." The commission found that Johnson's view that a victim must resist to be a real victim of sexual assault was his opinion, not the law. Since 1980 California law has not required rape victims to prove they resisted or were prevented from resisting. In an apology to the commission Johnson said his comments were inappropriate. He said they were the result of his frustration during an argument with a prosecutor over the defendant's sentence. Johnson said he believed the prosecutor's request of a 16-year sentence was not authorised by law. Johnson sentenced the rapist to six years instead, saying that's what the case was "worth". During the US election campaign Republican Missouri senate nominee Todd Atkin sparked outrage when he said that women who are victims of what he called "legitmate rape" rarely get pregnant. He later apologised.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Two men held by police were allegedly planning to castrate two men with hedge clippers before turning attention to Bieber US detectives have foiled a plot to kidnap and kill the teenage singer Justin Bieber – and to castrate two other men with hedge clippers. Police have charged two men and recovered a selection of tools, as well as a hand-drawn picture of Bieber, a Canadian. The plot was allegedly hatched by jailed killer Dana Martin, who was obsessed with Bieber and angry that the singer had failed to respond to his letters. Martin, who has a tattoo of Bieber on his leg, told investigators he persuaded a man he met in jail and the prisoner's nephew to kill the singer, his bodyguard and two others. Police say the plotters wanted to castrate two of the victims with hedge clippers before travelling to New York city to find Bieber. The targets of the castration plot were not connected to Bieber, authorities said. Martin, a Vermont man who is serving two life sentences for the 2000 killing of a 15-year-old girl, said he was angry at Bieber over the letters and also frustrated that he was a "nobody" in prison. He told police that his two accomplices, Mark Staake and Tanner Ruane, headed from New Mexico to the east coast, planning to be near a Bieber concert in New York city after killing and castrating the two other victims. But they missed a highway exit and crossed into Canada from Vermont. Staake was arrested on an outstanding warrant and Ruane was held later. Court documents say Martin told investigators Bieber was the "ultimate target". Staake, 41, faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Ruane, 23, Staake's nephew, also faces multiple charges. Clinton Norris of New Mexico police said Martin instructed the suspects to strangle the first two targets with paisley neckties, the same kind used in his 2000 murder case. The documents do not reveal how they were to kill Bieber. Bieber's management issued a statement saying: "We take every precaution to protect and insure the safety of Justin and his fans."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rice asks Obama to no longer consider her for the job and says she would face 'lengthy, disruptive and costly' nomination battle Susan Rice, the embattled US ambassador to the United Nations, withdrew herself from consideration to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state in the face of sustained Republican attacks over her handling of the Benghazi consulate attack. Although Rice insisted the decision had been hers alone and that she was not pushed by the Obama administration, it provides the Republicans with an early victory barely a month after the presidential election. The danger for Barack Obama, even though the White House insists it did not push her, is that it will be interpreted as weakness by a president reluctant to face a fractious nomination battle. Her withdrawal means that John Kerry, Massachusetts senator and former presidential candidate, is almost certain to be nominated to be America's top diplomat. Rice wrote to Obama asking him to no longer consider her for the job because, she said, she would face "a lengthy, disruptive and costly" nomination battle with the Senate. "The position of secretary of state should never be politicised," Rice wrote. "As someone who grew up in an era of comparative bipartisanship … I am saddened that we have reached this point, even before you have decided whom to nominate. We cannot afford such an irresponsible distraction from the most pressing issues facing the American people." In a statement released by the White House, Obama expressed regret and described the attacks as "unfair and misleading". She is to stay in her position as UN ambassador, Obama said. The president is in the process of putting together his cabinet for a second term after many of the present team expressed a desire to leave. It emerged on Thursday that Obama is lining up a former Republican senator, Chuck Hagel, to replace Leon Panetta as defence secretary, an effort to present his administration as being broad-based. Normally by this stage a president would have announced some appointments, but Obama's plans have been disrupted by the consistent Republican sniping against Rice, led by senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham and, lately, Kelly Ayotte. "Senator McCain thanks ambassador Rice for her service to the country and wishes her well," said McCain's spokesman Brian Rogers. "He will continue to seek all the facts surrounding the attack on our consulate in Benghazi that killed four brave Americans." Graham, in a statement, said: "I respect ambassador Rice's decision. President Obama has many talented people to choose from to serve as our next secretary of state." Her withdrawal, revealed by NBC News, appears to be on mainly personal grounds, with the attacks expanding beyond just her comments on Benghazi to prying into her private life, including such things as her investments. In an interview with NBC's Brian Williams, broadcast on Thursday night, Rice said she took the decision to avoid distracting from the main priorities Obama's second term. "We're talking about comprehensive immigration reform, balanced deficit reduction, job creation, that's what matters, and to the extent that my nomination could have delayed or distracted or deflected or maybe even some of these priorities impossible to achieve, I didn't want that and I'd much prefer to continue doing what I'm doing, which is a job I love at the United Nations." Her insistence that she volunteered to step aside was given credence by Bill Burton, a former White House spokesman and now a strategic adviser at the main Democratic political action committee, Priorities USA. In a tweet, he wrote: "You don't see a lot of people take one for the team in Washington - what ambassador Rice did was selfless and truly extraordinary." Rice is a big prize for the Republicans. She was championed by both Michelle Obama and senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, in spite of having a reputation for being abrasive. It was that combative, highly political approach that first got her into trouble with McCain when, during the 2008 presidential election, she mocked him for wearing a flak-jacket on a visit to Baghdad at a time when he was surrounded by dozens of security staff and soldiers. McCain, a Vietnam veteran, took the criticism badly. The assault on Rice followed a series of television interviews she gave on Sunday talk shows after the attack on Benghazi that left four Americans, including the ambassador Chris Stevens, dead. Rice suggested that the attack had been launched by demonstrators upset about anti-Muslim video made in the US. She later acknowledged she had been wrong and that the attack had been mounted by an al-Qaida-linked group. Attempts last month in Washington to win over critical senators failed, enraging them further. In her letter, she told Obama: "If nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly – to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities. "That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country … Therefore, I respectfully request that you no longer consider my candidacy at this time." Obama, in his statement, said: "For two decades, Susan has proven to be an extraordinarily capable, patriotic, and passionate public servant … I am grateful that Susan will continue to serve as our ambassador at the United Nations and a key member of my cabinet and national security team, carrying her work forward on all of these and other issues." Kerry is well-placed to sail through the nominating process. The Senate foreign relations committee is responsible for screening the secretary of state and Kerry, as head of it, knows well all the members. McCain has applied to join the committee from January and could have used that position to throw up obstacle after obstacle for Rice. But he is on relatively good terms with Kerry. Kerry, in a statement, said of Rice: "As someone who has weathered my share of political attacks and understands on a personal level just how difficult politics can be, I've felt for her throughout these last difficult weeks, but I also know that she will continue to serve with great passion and distinction."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rice asks Obama to no longer consider her for the job and says she would face 'lengthy, disruptive and costly' nomination battle Susan Rice, the embattled US ambassador to the United Nations, withdrew herself from consideration to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State in the face of sustained Republican attacks over her handling of the Benghazi consulate attack. Although Rice insisted the decision had been hers alone and that she was not pushed by the Obama administration, it provides the Republicans with an early victory barely a month after the White House election. The danger for Barack Obama, even though the White House insists it did not push her, is that it will be interpreted as weakness by a president reluctant to face a fractious nomination battle. Her withdrawal means that John Kerry, Massachusetts senator and former presidential candidate, is almost certain to be nominated to be America's top diplomat. Rice wrote to Obama asking him to no longer consider her for the job because, she said, she would face "a lengthy, disruptive and costly" nomination battle with the Senate. "The position of secretary of state should never be politicised," Rice wrote. "As someone who grew up in an era of comparative bipartisanship … I am saddened that we have reached this point, even before you have decided whom to nominate. We cannot afford such an irresponsible distraction from the most pressing issues facing the American people." In a statement released by the White House, Obama expressed regret and described the attacks as "unfair and misleading". She is to stay in her position as UN ambassador, Obama said. The president is in the process of putting together his cabinet for a second term after many of the present team expressed a desire to leave. It emerged on Thursday that Obama is lining up a former Republican senator, Chuck Hagel, to replace Leon Panetta as defence secretary, an effort to present his administration as being broad-based. Normally by this stage a president would have announced some appointments, but Obama's plans have been disrupted by the consistent Republican sniping against Rice, led by senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham and, lately, Kelly Ayotte. Graham, in a statement, said: "I respect ambassador Rice's decision. President Obama has many talented people to choose from to serve as our next secretary of state." Her withdrawal, revealed by NBC News, appears to be on mainly personal grounds, with the attacks expanding beyond just her comments on Benghazi to prying into her private life, including such things as her investments. In an interview with NBC's Brian Williams, broadcast on Thursday, night, Rice said she took the decision to avoid distracting from the main priorities Obama's second term. "We're talking about comprehensive immigration reform, balanced deficit reduction, job creation, that's what matters, and to the extent that my nomination could have delayed or distracted or deflected or maybe even some of these priorities impossible to achieve, I didn't want that and I'd much prefer to continue doing what I'm doing, which is a job I love at the United Nations." Her insistence that she volunteered to step aside was given credence by Bill Burton, a former White House spokesman and now a strategic adviser at the main Democratic political action committee, Priorities USA. In a tweet, he wrote: "You don't see a lot of people take one for the team in Washington - what ambassador Rice did was selfless and truly extraordinary." Rice is a big prize for the Republicans. She was championed by both Michelle Obama and senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, in spite of having a reputation for being abrasive. It was that combative, highly political approach that first got her into trouble with McCain when, during the 2008 presidential election, she mocked him for wearing a flak-jacket on a visit to Baghdad at a time when he was surrounded by dozens of security staff and soldiers. McCain, a Vietnam veteran, took the criticism badly. The assault on Rice followed a series of television interviews she gave on Sunday talk shows after the attack on Benghazi that left four Americans, including the ambassador Chris Stevens, dead. Rice suggested that the attack had been launched by demonstrators upset about anti-Muslim video made in the US. She later acknowledged she had been wrong and that the attack had been mounted by an al-Qaida-linked group. Attempts last month in Washington to win over critical senators failed, enraging them further. In her letter, she told Obama: "If nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly – to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities. "That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country … Therefore, I respectfully request that you no longer consider my candidacy at this time." Obama, in his statement, said: "For two decades, Susan has proven to be an extraordinarily capable, patriotic, and passionate public servant … I am grateful that Susan will continue to serve as our ambassador at the United Nations and a key member of my cabinet and national security team, carrying her work forward on all of these and other issues." Kerry is well-placed to sail through the nominating process. The Senate foreign relations committee is responsible for screening the secretary of state and Kerry, as head of it, knows well all the members. McCain has applied to join the committee from January and could have used that position to throw up obstacle after obstacle for Rice. But he is on relatively good terms with Kerry. Kerry, in a statement, said of Rice: "As someone who has weathered my share of political attacks and understands on a personal level just how difficult politics can be, I've felt for her throughout these last difficult weeks, but I also know that she will continue to serve with great passion and distinction."
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Killers to serve life in prison after proving prosecutors at original trials actively sought to keep blacks from sitting on juries A judge in North Carolina has commuted the death sentences of three convicted killers having heard evidence that prosecutors in their original trials had consciously prevented black people from sitting on the juries. Judge Gregory Weeks, who sits on the superior court of Cumberland County around Fayetteville, delivered a withering ruling in which he was scathing of a prosecutorial system that he said displayed "racial consciousness and race-based decision making". The judge commuted the three prisoners' sentences to life imprisonment without parole, having been convinced by "powerful and persuasive evidence" that the state had distorted the composition of juries to render them overwhelmingly white. "The court finds no joy in these conclusions. Indeed, the court cannot overstate the gravity and somber nature of its findings. Nor can the court overstate the harm to African American citizens and to the integrity of the justice system that results from racially discriminatory jury selection practices," Weeks said. His ruling to commute the sentences of Christina Walters, Tilmon Golphin and Quintel Augustine was issued on Thursday amid dramatic court scenes. The courtroom was packed with relatives of the prisoners' victims, who included a police officer killed by Augustine in 2001, and a highway patrol trooper and sheriff's deputy killed by Golphin in 1997. As Weeks read out his judgment, Al Lowry, brother of the killed highway patrol officer Ed Lowry, shouted out: "Judge, you had your mind made up the first day." The court was also full of police officers who staged a walkout as Weeks was handing down his ruling. The commutations were made under the Racial Justice Act, a law introduced by the then Democrat-controlled North Carolina state legislature in 2009. It allows death row inmates to challenge their death sentences if they can prove that racial bias played an influential factor on them being put on death row. This year the now Republican-controlled assembly whittled down the law, but it remains on the books in a more limited form. The introduction of the law has opened a window onto previously hidden evidence of widespread, almost systemic abuse of the jury-selection process to prevent black people sitting in judgment on their peers. A study by Michigan state university into North Carolina's jury selection process found that discrimination was rampant right across the state, with twice as many black people excluded from service in death penalty cases as other groups. The first death row inmate to have his sentence commuted under the Racial Justice Act was Marcus Robinson in April. The MSU study found that in Robinson's case the discrimination was even more blatant, with some 50% of potential black jurors being rejected from jury service compared with just 14% of other ethnic groups. The court heard that African Americans had been struck from the jury in the Robinson trial because they belonged to the civil rights group NAACP, or because they had studied at an historically black university. One potential juror was turned away because he had served in the US army, another because he answered a question with the reply: "Yeah". Weeks, who also presided over the commutation of Robinson's sentence, said on that occasion that "discrimination in jury selection frustrates the commitment of African Americans to full participation in civil life. One of the stereotypes particularly offensive to African American citizens is that they are not interested in seeing criminals brought to justice." Under the restrictions to the Racial Justice Act introduced by the now Republican-held legislature, death row inmates must now provide more than mere statistical evidence that discrimination took place. In the three new cases, the court was presented with the hand-written notes of prosecutors at the time of the original trials that suggested a conscious intention to make the juries as white as possible. The court heard that a body of North Carolina district attorneys had even held training sessions for prosecutors in capital cases on how to exclude black people from juries without falling foul of the law. Cassandra Stubbs, a senior lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, said the latest rulings had sent a clear message that racial bias had no place in death penalty cases. "Whether we look at the big picture of the statistical evidence or the close up evidence from the prosecutors' notes, there was overwhelming proof of discrimination," she said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | UN ambassador tells Obama 'I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly'. Follow developments here
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | UN ambassador tells Obama 'I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly'. Follow developments here
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The star of our No 4 film of the year, Silver Linings Playbook, talks exclusively about her stellar year If Hollywood needed an emblematic heroine for a year of hard times and tough decisions, it came in the form of Jennifer Lawrence: resolute, unyielding and somehow old beyond her age. Lawrence's earlier Oscar-nominated turn in the Ozark-noir Winter's Bone proved the springboard for a brilliant 2012. There she was in the spring, wielding a bow-and-arrow as kill-or-be-killed Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, the year's best blockbuster. And there she was in the autumn, playing beautiful damaged goods alongside the likes of Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook, the year's best rom-com, and our fourth best film of the year. We caught up with Lawrence on the set of Catching Fire, the second part of the Hunger Games franchise. The line's crackling. Where are you? I'm filming in Hawaii. But right now I'm eating doughnuts. I've just been inundated with doughnuts; it's a perk of the job. Moving on to other matters, Silver Linings Playbook has been named one of the Guardian's best films of the year. Well, thank you, that's awesome. I'm a little taken aback. I should have prepared a speech. It's a project I'm proud of. The cast and the crew gave it their all, working late nights, 15-hour days, trying to get it right. It was made with passion, that's for sure. Your role as Tiffany Maxwell gave you a chance to shout down Robert De Niro. There's not many actors who can make that boast. Oh, that was nerve-racking. I had a habit of never looking at what scene we were doing next. But then the night before I looked ahead and thought: "Oh my God, I've got to act against De Niro." But it was fine. He's the nicest man in the world. He's actually very quiet. On set he keeps himself to himself and only pipes up when he has something proper to say. When he does pipe up, people listen. Since shooting Silver Linings Playbook, you've gone on to work with Bradley Cooper on another film. Yeah, it's called Serena. I was actually cast in that before starting Silver Linings Playbook, but we were still looking for the male lead. So one day I mentioned it to Brad and said: "Do you want to do it?" and he shrugged and said OK. Serena is a drama set during the 1930s Depression. It all sounds very John Steinbeck. You're breaking up. Did you ask if I was playing John Steinbeck? No. OK, because that would be weird. What with your performances in Winter's Bone, The Hunger Games and Serena, you're becoming the poster-girl for nickel-and-dime America. I know, but I'm just looking for interesting stories and strong characters. Maybe that's where the good material is. Maybe that's why I end up playing white-trash girls with too much responsibility. You grew up on a farm in Kentucky. Do you still see that as home? In a sense, in that it's where my family lives and it's where I grew up. But I don't know. These days I spend most of my time flipping between London [with her boyfriend, British actor Nicholas Hoult] and LA. I love London. I love the layout of the city and I love that it's not Manhattan or LA. In LA people are only interested in your job and how much money you make. In London that doesn't matter so much. People know that there are other things to talk about. When you took the role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, did a part of you worry that the film might be so big it would get in the way of a creatively rewarding career? Yes, of course. I worried that it would be overwhelming and that no one would be able to see me as any other character. But I really cared about the movie. I'm as proud of The Hunger Games as I am any of the other films I've done. You auditioned for the role of Bella Swan in Twilight at about 17. In hindsight, are you glad you didn't get it? Oh yeah, for sure. I remember when the first movie came out, seeing Kristen Stewart on the red carpet and getting papped wherever she went. I'd had no idea Twilight would be such a big deal. For me, and assuming for her, it was just another audition. Then it turned into this whole other thing. If Silver Linings Playbook was one of our films of the year, what were yours? I really loved Argo, I thought that was brilliant. Um, what else? Seven Psychopaths was wonderful. But I haven't seen enough movies this year. I've been too busy working. You're not spending Christmas in Hawaii? No, I'm going home to see my family. My brother just told me in an email that we're all going to go clay-pigeon shooting. Is that a family tradition? No, no, he's just found this place where they let you shoot clay-pigeons and then give you dinner afterwards. He's real excited about it. We've never done it before. I don't know what his shooting skills are like, I'm sure they're better than mine. I'm going to have to bring my bow-and-arrow.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Inquest hears that nurse who died after Duchess of Cambridge hoax call left three letters before apparently taking her own life One of three apparent suicide notes left by the nurse at the centre of the royal hoax phone call criticised staff at the King Edward VII hospital where she worked, the Guardian has learned. Jacintha Saldanha, 46, was found hanged in her apartment in the nurses' quarter of the hospital in Marylebone, central London, by a colleague and a security officer, an inquest into her death heard on Thursday. Three notes were found, two at the scene and one in the nurse's belongings. She was found dead three days after two DJs rang the hospital from Australia posing as the Queen and Prince Charles in a prank call which Saldanha answered and put through to another nurse on the ward where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for morning sickness. The dead woman's family has been given typed copies of the three handwritten notes by the police and has read the contents, the Guardian has been told. One note deals with the hoax call by the DJs from 2Day FM, another details her requests for her funeral, and the third addresses her employers, the hospital, and contains criticism of staff there, the Guardian understands from two separate sources. The Westminster coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, was told at the formal opening of the inquest that she had been found hanging in her apartment and there were also injuries to her wrists. The hearing was told that paramedics who attended the scene in Weymouth Street made several attempts to revive her. Scotland Yard is investigating a number of emails which the inquest heard were relevant to the nurse's death, as well as telephone calls made to and from her phone in the days before her death. The Labour MP Keith Vaz, who is acting as a spokesman for Saldanha's husband and two children, published a letter from him to John Lofthouse, chief executive of the King Edward Vll hospital, calling for the "full facts" of what happened to be given to the family. Earlier this week the nurse's family met Lofthouse and handed over a list of questions they want answered. Vaz said in his letter to Lofthouse: "I have dealt with similar cases in the past and I would agree with the prime minister that the family need to get the full facts, from the time she took the call from 2Day FM to the time she was found in her accommodation. "The family gave you a list of questions that they wish the hospital to answer so that they can have the full facts of the case. I know they would appreciate answers to their questions in writing as soon as possible. They may also have additional questions." Detective Chief Inspector James Harman said at the inquest that the Metropolitan police would be contacting officers in New South Wales as part of its inquiry. He said: "On Friday 7 December Jacintha Saldanha was found by colleagues and a member of security staff. At this time there are no suspicious circumstances apparent to me in relation to this death. "A number of notes were recovered. Two notes were at the scene and a further note was found in the deceased's belongings. Three notes in total." Saldanha, a mother of two, was identified by her husband, an accountant, the inquest heard. Harman told the hearing: "There are a number of emails that are of relevance in helping us establish what may have led to this death and we are also looking at the deceased's telephone contacts. Detectives spoke to a number of witnesses, family, friends and colleagues in order to establish anything that led or may have contributed to this tragic death." Saldanha was found three days after the DJs made the prank call. As the nurse on duty, she took the call and put it through to a colleague on the ward where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for morning sickness, who gave out information about her condition. Harman told the coroner: "You will be aware of the wider circumstances of this case. And I expect in the very near future we shall be in contact with colleagues in New South Wales to establish the best means of putting the evidence before you." The coroner's officer Lynda Martindill told the hearing that Saldanha, born in India, was a registered nurse and night nurse. Toxicology and histology test results were pending. Adjourning the inquest until 26 March, Wilcox spoke directly to Saldanha's colleagues who attended the hearing. She said: "I wish to pass on my sympathy to you and her family and all those touched by this terribly tragic death." A spokeswoman for the hospital said no one in senior management knew what the contents of the notes left by Saldanha were. She said the hospital management "were very clear that there were no disciplinary issues in this matter". Both the nurses involved had been offered "full support" and "it was made clear they were victims of a cruel journalistic trick," she said. The hospital has offered bereavement counselling for the family in Bristol, which they have decided to take up, according to Vaz. The family did not attend the hearing. Speaking outside the inquest Vaz said Saldanha's relatives were "grieving in their homes … They are comforting each other and the community is comforting them." He said he had passed on the coroner's comments. The family were grateful to the coroner's office and Metropolitan police, he added. A memorial service will be held in Bristol. A mass will be held in the chapel at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday. For confidential support call Samaritans on 08457 909090.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Abhisit Vejjajiva accused of death of taxi driver amid 2010 anti-government protests during which 90 civilians died A former prime minister of Thailand has been charged with murder over the death of a taxi driver during a military crackdown on anti-government protesters in 2010. The murder charge against Abhisit Vejjajiva stems from the use of live ammunition that led to 90 civilian deaths and about 1,800 people injured. He is accused by the Department of Special Investigation of allowing the unrestrained use of deadly force to quell the demonstrations. Abhisit, who was interviewed by DSI officials for more than four hours, said he had formally acknowledged the charge against him but was not guilty. He said he would present documents supporting his position after studying the charge more closely. The DSI said it believed Abhisit culpable in the death of Phan Kamthong because he had authorised troops to use war weapons against protesters. A recent criminal court inquest found security forces responsible for the man's death. The shooting occurred during eight weeks of demonstrations by supporters of Abhisit's ousted rival Thaksin Shinawatra, known as red shirts, who occupied a central intersection in Bangkok. As tensions grew, Abhisit was moved to an army safe house that became the centre of protests. Soldiers forcefully ended the demonstrations on 19 May 2010 by opening fire on protesters. Abhisit's former deputy, Suthep Thaugsuban, who was in charge of the special security agency set up to contain the protests, has been charged with the same offence. The two were greeted by DSI chief, Tharit Phengdit, as they walked smiling through a gauntlet of reporters into the offices of the agency. A court must accept the case before it goes forward to trial. The political tide has shifted several times since Thaksin's ouster. His sister Yingluck Shinawatra is now prime minister, while Abhisit leads the opposition as head of the Democrat party. Tharit was DSI chief during Abhisit's administration and was widely seen then as his hatchet man for aggressively prosecuting red shirt leaders and supporters. Thaksin is in self-imposed exile to avoid serving a two-year jail term for a conflict of interest conviction in 2008. His supporters say he was unfairly convicted and have campaigned for his release without charge, while his opponents, including Abhisit, insist he not be let off the hook. The case against Abhisit and Suthep is seen by many as a bargaining tool to gain support for an amnesty that would cover many of the people charged or convicted of crimes in connection with the political battles after the coup. An amnesty to lift Thaksin's conviction would be would be more politically palatable if it covered Abhisit as well. However, in recent interviews Abhisit has said he is willing to face justice, implying Thaksin should take the same position. About 50 red shirt demonstrators gathered peacefully outside the DSI headquarters before Abhisit's arrival, seated on the ground and holding framed photos of relatives killed during the protests, as they shouted protest slogans over loudspeakers. Several expressed the hope that the politicians would take responsibility for their actions and be placed in custody immediately after being charged. Payao Akkhahad's daughter, Kamolkate, a volunteer medic, was shot dead while treating injured red shirts sheltering at a temple. "Her siblings and relatives have been waiting for this for a long time," said Payao, 47. "This is the first time a person who has ordered the killing of civilian protesters will be put through legal proceedings. Even though it's late, it's better than a day that never comes at all." About a dozen people gathered outside the DSI office to offer flowers and support to Abhisit and Suthep. About 400 police officers attended to stem any violence but had little to do.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Russian deputy foreign minister's comments come as Syria rebels say 21-month conflict has reached decisive tipping point One of Syria's key allies admitted for the first time on Thursday that the Assad regime was losing the ground war, as rebels told the Guardian they were occupying more territory and besieging government troops in many parts of the country. Mikhail Bogdanov, the deputy foreign minister of Russia – which has given Bashar al-Assad unstinting diplomatic and military support – said the regime faced possible defeat to the rebels, adding with unusual candour: "One must look facts in the face." Bogdanov said: "The tendency is that the regime and government of Syria is losing more and more control, as well as more and more territory. Unfortunately, the victory of the Syrian opposition cannot be ruled out." Rebels said they believed the 21-month conflict had reached a decisive tipping point, with Assad's military machine no longer capable of rolling them back. "The situation is excellent. We are winning. Not just in Aleppo but the whole of Syria," said Abu Saaed, a fighter in the northern rebel-held town of El Bab. Other key international players appear to have come to the same conclusion as Moscow. In Brussels , Nato's secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said: "I think the regime is approaching collapse." He said it was only a question of time before the Assad government imploded. Others in the region, however, cautioned that the final unravelling could be prolonged and bloody. "Assad's situation is very difficult," said one senior Arab source in the region. "But he has a lot of strength. He is still getting arms and finance from Iran and his military capability is still robust." On the ground the Syrian war remains an asymmetric one. The rebels are short of ammunition and have mainly light weapons: machine guns, Kalshnikovs, and home-made rockets. The government, by contrast, has Scud missiles – fired for the first time this week at rebels in Aleppo – as well as Sukhoi jets and attack helicopters. It also has stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, dispersed at between 40 and 50 sites across the country – a source of growing western concern. Nonetheless, over the past three months the rebels have acquired fresh momentum. The Free Syrian Army – as well as jihadist military outfits such as Jabhat al-Nusra, outlawed by Washington this week – have overrun a succession of Syrian army bases and military schools, and is now turning the regime's weapons on them. "Russia sent weapons to the regime. Now we are using these same weapons to kill the regime," Saeed, from the al-Tawhid brigade, said. The FSA also believed in its cause, plus it had God on its side, he said. The rebels have recently organised into a more cohesive fighting force. Sheikh Omar, a senior al-Tawhid commander in El Bab, said the FSA had been rebranded the National Syrian Army (NSA) at a meeting in mid-November. Its structure now mirrors that of a conventional army with numbered divisions, and on Wednesday Omar was signing new identity cards for his 1,600 troops by candlelight. The rebels now control much of rural Syria. They are closing in on Damascus, where there has been fierce fighting in the southern suburbs, and pressing other urban regime strongholds. The government has effectively abandoned large swaths of territory, and the rebels have set up their own passport control at the Kilis border crossing with Turkey, for example – where visitors are greeted with the words: "Free Syria Repablic [sic]". Kurdish militias have established their own autonomous zones in the mountainous north-east. In Syria's sky regime jets are visible every day. At 9am on Wednesday a Sukhoi fighter bombed El Bab, dropping three percussion bombs. On the ground, though, it is a different story. Rebel brigades launched a co-ordinated offensive this week against a radar station in the village of Shaala, just outside El Bab. Defectors paint a picture of misery and low morale among the 150 loyalist troops trapped inside. They are forbidden to watch TV or use mobile phones, and are unaware the regime in Damascus is slowly crumbling. Officers have told them they are under attack from religious "terrorists". On Tuesday another Sukhoi jet accidentally bombed the radar station, mistaking it for a enemy target. On Thursday the rebels overran it. In the nearby town of Azaz, opposition units have laid siege to an airbase that occupies a prominent position 20km north of Aleppo. Its precarious situation typifies the logistical difficulties now facing the beleaguered and overstretched Syrian military. The opposition controls the surrounding area, and the only way to supply the base is by helicopter – at increasing risk of being shot down. Last week, four FSA brigades launched an operation against the base. One volunteer, Abu Doshka, got within 200 metres of the perimeter fence before he was killed by shrapnel from helicopter fire. Other rebels launched home-made shells from 4km away. "The regime can never relax," one fighter, Abu Ibrahim, said., laying out the rebels' attritional tactics. Back in the town of Azaz, 15km away, Abu Doshka's colleagues paid tribute to his sacrifice. "He was a brave man. He was with the revolution from the start," said Abdul Faiz. Despite reports that weapons from outside Syria are now flooding into rebel hands, many units still have only rudimentary arsenals. Instead, they rely on their own ingenuity. In an anonymous concrete house, Faiz has set up his own home-made bomb factory. His workshop is a small concrete room, next to a courtyard and a sprawling lemon tree. His materials include a large tub of aluminium powder, a sack of ammonium nitrate, imported by the government from Russia, and a bundle of fuses. "On average we can produce two shells a day. But it's difficult work," Faiz said. He said it took him eight months to master bomb-making, adding that he experimented along the way using manuals downloaded from the internet. His home-made rockets have an impressive range of 6km and are fired from a home-made metal chute. Near the front door lay two slightly mangled regime rockets. They had failed to explode. The large, fin-tailed shells were stamped in English and Cyrillic with the words: "The detonators are inserted." Faiz had carefully scraped out the explosive from inside. It now sits in a small bag, and will be reused in his next bomb. The Syrian military have fired several shells at his bomb-making factory, piercing a hole in one wall, but they have failed to destroy it. Faiz declined to say from where he had got the aluminium powder, but the name of its manufacturer was printed on the tub: the firm Eckart, based in Hartenstein, Germany. (The company's website reads: "You can get to know the many possible uses of our unique product range). Faiz said he would like to build a surface-to-air missile next. "We are thinking about it," he said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Russian deputy foreign minister's comments come as Syria rebels say 21-month conflict has reached turning point One of Syria's key allies admitted for the first time on Thursday that the Assad regime was losing the ground war, as rebels told the Guardian they were occupying more territory and besieging government troops in many parts of the country. Mikhail Bogdanov, the deputy foreign minister of Russia – which has given Bashar al-Assad unstinting diplomatic and military support – said the regime faced possible defeat to the rebels, adding with unusual candour: "One must look facts in the face." Bogdanov said: "The tendency is that the regime and government of Syria is losing more and more control, as well as more and more territory. Unfortunately, the victory of the Syrian opposition cannot be ruled out." Rebels said they believed the 21-month conflict had reached a decisive tipping point, with Assad's military machine no longer capable of rolling them back. "The situation is excellent. We are winning. Not just in Aleppo but the whole of Syria," said Abu Saaed, a fighter in the northern rebel-held town of El Bab. Other key international players appear to have come to the same conclusion as Moscow. In Brussels , Nato's secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said: "I think the regime is approaching collapse." He said it was only a question of time before the Assad government imploded. Others in the region, however, cautioned that the final unravelling could be prolonged and bloody. "Assad's situation is very difficult," said one senior Arab source in the region. "But he has a lot of strength. He is still getting arms and finance from Iran and his military capability is still robust." On the ground the Syrian war remains an asymmetric one. The rebels are short of ammunition and have mainly light weapons: machine guns, Kalshnikovs, and home-made rockets. The government, by contrast, has Scud missiles – fired for the first time this week at rebels in Aleppo – as well as Sukhoi jets and attack helicopters. It also has stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, dispersed at between 40 and 50 sites across the country – a source of growing western concern. Nonetheless, over the past three months the rebels have acquired fresh momentum. The Free Syrian Army – as well as jihadist military outfits such as Jabhat al-Nusra, outlawed by Washington this week – have overrun a succession of Syrian army bases and military schools, and is now turning the regime's weapons on them. "Russia sent weapons to the regime. Now we are using these same weapons to kill the regime," Saeed, from the al-Tawhid brigade, said. The FSA also believed in its cause, plus it had God on its side, he said. The rebels have recently organised into a more cohesive fighting force. Sheikh Omar, a senior al-Tawhid commander in El Bab, said the FSA had been rebranded the National Syrian Army (NSA) at a meeting in mid-November. Its structure now mirrors that of a conventional army with numbered divisions, and on Wednesday Omar was signing new identity cards for his 1,600 troops by candlelight. The rebels now control much of rural Syria. They are closing in on Damascus, where there has been fierce fighting in the southern suburbs, and pressing other urban regime strongholds. The government has effectively abandoned large swaths of territory, and the rebels have set up their own passport control at the Kilis border crossing with Turkey, for example – where visitors are greeted with the words: "Free Syria Repablic [sic]". Kurdish militias have established their own autonomous zones in the mountainous north-east. In Syria's sky regime jets are visible every day. At 9am on Wednesday a Sukhoi fighter bombed El Bab, dropping three percussion bombs. On the ground, though, it is a different story. Rebel brigades launched a co-ordinated offensive this week against a radar station in the village of Shaala, just outside El Bab. Defectors paint a picture of misery and low morale among the 150 loyalist troops trapped inside. They are forbidden to watch TV or use mobile phones, and are unaware the regime in Damascus is slowly crumbling. Officers have told them they are under attack from religious "terrorists". On Tuesday another Sukhoi jet accidentally bombed the radar station, mistaking it for a enemy target. On Thursday the rebels overran it. In the nearby town of Azaz, opposition units have laid siege to an airbase that occupies a prominent position 20km north of Aleppo. Its precarious situation typifies the logistical difficulties now facing the beleaguered and overstretched Syrian military. The opposition controls the surrounding area, and the only way to supply the base is by helicopter – at increasing risk of being shot down. Last week, four FSA brigades launched an operation against the base. One volunteer, Abu Doshka, got within 200 metres of the perimeter fence before he was killed by shrapnel from helicopter fire. Other rebels launched home-made shells from 4km away. "The regime can never relax," one fighter, Abu Ibrahim, said., laying out the rebels' attritional tactics. Back in the town of Azaz, 15km away, Abu Doshka's colleagues paid tribute to his sacrifice. "He was a brave man. He was with the revolution from the start," said Abdul Faiz. Despite reports that weapons from outside Syria are now flooding into rebel hands, many units still have only rudimentary arsenals. Instead, they rely on their own ingenuity. In an anonymous concrete house, Faiz has set up his own home-made bomb factory. His workshop is a small concrete room, next to a courtyard and a sprawling lemon tree. His materials include a large tub of aluminium powder, a sack of ammonium nitrate, imported by the government from Russia, and a bundle of fuses. "On average we can produce two shells a day. But it's difficult work," Faiz said. He said it took him eight months to master bomb-making, adding that he experimented along the way using manuals downloaded from the internet. His home-made rockets have an impressive range of 6km and are fired from a home-made metal chute. Near the front door lay two slightly mangled regime rockets. They had failed to explode. The large, fin-tailed shells were stamped in English and Cyrillic with the words: "The detonators are inserted." Faiz had carefully scraped out the explosive from inside. It now sits in a small bag, and will be reused in his next bomb. The Syrian military have fired several shells at his bomb-making factory, piercing a hole in one wall, but they have failed to destroy it. Faiz declined to say from where he had got the aluminium powder, but the name of its manufacturer was printed on the tub: the firm Eckart, based in Hartenstein, Germany. (The company's website reads: "You can get to know the many possible uses of our unique product range). Faiz said he would like to build a surface-to-air missile next. "We are thinking about it," he said.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Landmark European court of human rights judgment says CIA tortured wrongly detained German citizen CIA agents tortured a German citizen, sodomising, shackling, and beating him, as Macedonian state police looked on, the European court of human rights said in a historic judgment released on Thursday. In a unanimous ruling, it also found Macedonia guilty of torturing, abusing, and secretly imprisoning Khaled el-Masri, a German of Lebanese origin allegedly linked to terrorist organisations. Masri was seized in Macedonia in December 2003 and handed over to a CIA "rendition team" at Skopje airport and secretly flown to Afghanistan. It is the first time the court has described CIA treatment meted out to terror suspects as torture. "The grand chamber of the European court of human rights unanimously found that Mr el-Masri was subjected to forced disappearance, unlawful detention, extraordinary rendition outside any judicial process, and inhuman and degrading treatment," said James Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative. He described the judgment as "an authoritative condemnation of some of the most objectionable tactics employed in the post-9/11 war on terror". It should be a wake-up call for the Obama administration and US courts, he told the Guardian. For them to continue to avoid serious scrutiny of CIA activities was "simply unacceptable", he said. Jamil Dakwar, of the American Civil Liberties Union, described the ruling as "a huge victory for justice and the rule of law". The use of CIA interrogation methods widely denounced as torture during the Bush administration's "war on terror" also came under scrutiny in Congress on Thursday. The US Senate's select committee on intelligence was expected to vote on whether to approve a mammoth review it has undertaken into the controversial practices that included waterboarding, stress positions, forced nudity, beatings and sleep and sensory deprivation. The report, that runs to almost 6,000 pages based on a three-year review of more than 6m pieces of information, is believed to conclude that the "enhanced interrogation techniques" adopted by the CIA during the Bush years did not produce any major breakthroughs in intelligence, contrary to previous claims. The committee, which is dominated by the Democrats, is likely to vote to approve the report, though opposition from the Republican members may prevent the report ever seeing the light of day. The Strasbourg court said it found Masri's account of what happened to him "to be established beyond reasonable doubt" and that Macedonia had been "responsible for his torture and ill-treatment both in the country itself and after his transfer to the US authorities in the context of an extra-judicial 'rendition'". In January 2004, Macedonian police took him to a hotel in Skopje, where he was kept locked in a room for 23 days and questioned in English, despite his limited proficiency in that language, about his alleged ties with terrorist organisations, the court said in its judgment. His requests to contact the German embassy were refused. At one point, when he said he intended to leave, he was threatened with being shot. "Masri's treatment at Skopje airport at the hands of the CIA rendition team – being severely beaten, sodomised, shackled and hooded, and subjected to total sensory deprivation – had been carried out in the presence of state officials of [Macedonia] and within its jurisdiction," the court ruled. It added: "Its government was consequently responsible for those acts performed by foreign officials. It had failed to submit any arguments explaining or justifying the degree of force used or the necessity of the invasive and potentially debasing measures. Those measures had been used with premeditation, the aim being to cause Mr Masri severe pain or suffering in order to obtain information. In the court's view, such treatment had amounted to torture, in violation of Article 3 [of the European human rights convention]." In Afghanistan, Masri was incarcerated for more than four months in a small, dirty, dark concrete cell in a brick factory near the capital, Kabul, where he was repeatedly interrogated and was beaten, kicked and threatened. His repeated requests to meet with a representative of the German government were ignored, said the court. Masri was released in April 2004. He was taken, blindfolded and handcuffed, by plane to Albania and subsequently to Germany, after the CIA admited he was wrongly detained. The Macedonian government, which the court ordered must pay Masri €60,000 (£49,000) in compensation, has denied involvement in kidnapping. UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, Ben Emmerson, described the ruling as "a key milestone in the long struggle to secure accountability of public officials implicated in human rights violations committed by the Bush administration CIA in its policy of secret detention, rendition and torture". He said the US government must issue an apology for its "central role in a web of systematic crimes and human rights violations by the Bush-era CIA, and to pay voluntary compensation to Mr el-Masri". Germany should ensure that the US officials involved in this case were now brought to trial.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | European leaders seal agreement to put the European Central Bank in supervisory authority over financial institutions in the single currency area European leaders were expected to push ahead with plans for winding up or shoring up weak eurozone banks on Thursday night, hours after sealing agreement to put the European Central Bank in supervisory authority over financial institutions in the single currency area. In what was being hailed as one of the most important and systemic responses in three years of battling to save the currency, finance ministers early on Thursday embarked on the first stage of a eurozone "banking union", burying acute Franco-German differences to establish the first single banking supervisor. A two-day summit which opened on Thursday sought to build on the momentum, discussing calls for new legislation on eurozone banks' "resolution" to be drafted by next year. But more ambitious schemes, drawn up by the summit chair, president Herman Van Rompuy, to move towards a eurozone fiscal and political federation were watered down and delayed amid strong German resistance to any pooling of risk and costs among the currency's 17 countries. A draft communique on the summit's decisions said that a "single resolution authority will be required, with the necessary powers to ensure that any bank can be resolved with the appropriate tools." The European commission, according to the draft, was told to draw up legislation for dealing with weak banks over the next year and the law should come into force in 2014. There was also talk of a common eurozone deposit guarantee scheme, the third plank in the banking union scheme, safeguarding people's savings anywhere in the single currency area. The Germans are balking at that notion, however, and are also wary of pooling responsibility for weak banks in other countries as the common scheme would see German banks being taxed to pay for bad banks elsewhere. "Common bank resolution is difficult for them," said a senior diplomat, adding that the Dutch and the Finns, hawkish allies of the Germans on the euro crisis, were also reluctant to take on "mutualisation" of risk in the eurozone. Berlin has told Brussels to steer clear of tabling proposals on eurozone risk-sharing and cost-sharing before chancellor Angela Merkel contests an election for a third term next September. The proposed banks resolution regime is supposed to help cut the invidious link between failing banks and weak sovereigns that is seen as having contributed hugely to the sovereign debt crisis in countries such as Spain and Ireland. "The single most important integrative step for the eurozone in 2013 is going to be the work to create a common resolution authority," said Mujtaba Rahman, European analyst at Eurasia Group. Under the single supervisory regime agreed on Thursday by finance ministers, though still to be finalised in talks with the European parliament, the ECB in Frankfurt is put in authority over up to 200 of the eurozone's 6,000 banks initially. A German campaign to restrict the scope of the supervisor won over French resistance. After more than 14 hours of fractious negotiations, the ministers agreed on the single supervisor as the first stage of a more comprehensive banking union. The next two stages may turn out to be more difficult to realise because of German-led reluctance to bow to the mutualisation of risk involved. But without them, it will also be difficult to see the new regime being effective, officials and diplomats say. The idea was first proposed in June when France, Italy, and Spain exploited the euro drama to hijack Germany into agreeing that the eurozone's bailout fund could be used to recapitalise directly ailing banks, say in Spain. The Germans were arm-twisted into agreeing, but insisted the recapitalisation could only take place if eurozone banks were placed under ECB authority. Within hours of that huge concession, the Germans got cold feet and have been rowing back ever since, seeking to delay the bank supervisor and restrict its powers and scope. It will be another 15 months before the new regime starts operating properly. Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, ascribed the time needed to the ECB, stressing that Mario Draghi, the ECB president, wanted a year to get the new system up and running. The UK chancellor, George Osborne, whose key aim from outside the eurozone was to safeguard the UK financial sector against ECB and eurozone interference by being automatically outvoted on rule changes, standards-setting, and regulation, claimed he got a good deal for Britain. "The safeguards we have secured protect Britain's interests and the integrity of the European single market," said Osborne. "We've always said a banking union was a necessary part of a more stable single currency for the eurozone, but also that single market for the whole of the European Union must be safeguarded. The agreement Britain has secured does that." Despite the progress on common bank regulation, the summit shaped up to be a humiliation for Van Rompuy at the hands of the Germans. His earlier proposals for eurobonds have been scrapped and demands last week for a eurozone "fiscal capacity" or special budget and insurance scheme were also dropped, although the draft still talked of a eurozone "shock absorption capacity." Van Rompuy's first draft communique for the summit, envisaging a three-stage process towards a more complete monetary union, has had to be comprehensively rewritten while his proposals were belittled as a "useful input" rather than as the "basis" for the debate. Merkel did not rule out supplying "financial incentives" for eurozone countries pledging to undertake structural reforms of their economies, policed by Brussels. But she added: "This should not be misunderstood. This can't be used as a pretext for delivering new sources of money. That's not on for Germany." The leaders also disbursed more than €34bn in bailout funds to Greece, six months after it was due, while postponing a decision on a bailout for Cyprus until next month.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Republican senators could move to keep under wraps a 6,000-page report detailing CIA methods during 'war on terror' A prominent Senate select committee is coming under pressure to release the 6,000-page report of its investigation into controversial interrogation techniques adopted by the CIA during the so-called "war on terror". The Senate select committee on intelligence was expected to vote on Thursday to approve the report, the result of a mammoth three-year investigation into CIA methods that have been widely denounced as a form of torture. Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic head of the committee, has called the inquiry the "most definitive review of this CIA programme to be conducted". The Senate is expected to approve the report, given the Democratic control of the committee. However, lack of co-operation from the Republican members of the panel could prevent the document ever seeing the light of day. Some of the top retired military leaders in the US have appealed to the committee to adopt the report and to publish it with as few redactions as possible. A joint letter from 26 of them – including retired marine generals Joseph Hoar, former commander-in-chief of United States Central Command, and Charles Krulak, former commandant of the marine corps – was sent to the committee on Wednesday protesting the Bush administration's use of torture. "As retired generals and admirals," the letter reads, "we know that torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment produces unreliable results and often impedes further intelligence collection. Torture is unlawful, immoral and counterproductive." Yet, the letter continues, it is still argued today that torture led to the killing of Osama bin Laden, and that the CIA should still have the power to engage in such practices. "The committee's comprehensive review will demonstrate the negative impact of torture on our national security and stand as a testament against those who urge otherwise." The Senate has spent the past three years investigating the CIA's detention and enhanced interrogation techniques for the period beginning in 2002 after 9/11 and the start of the war in Afghanistan and ending in 2009 when incoming President Barack Obama banned the use of torture. The controversial practices included waterboarding, stress positions, forced nudity, beatings and sleep and sensory deprivation as well as the "rendition" or extra-legal extradition of terror suspects to a network of secret prisons. The report runs to almost 6,000 pages and is based on more than 6m pieces of information. Feinstein has said that the report is "comprehensive, it is strictly factual, and it is the most definitive review of this CIA programme to be conducted". It is believed to conclude that the "enhanced interrogation techniques" adopted by the CIA during the Bush years did not produce any major breakthroughs in intelligence. The finding, if confirmed, would contradict previous claims by President Bush himself, his vice-president Dick Cheney and other prominent Bush administration figures who said that extreme interrogation methods allowed the CIA to extract valuable intelligence from a small number of high-level detainees. Most incendiary have been the claims that such brutal techniques were seminal in tracking down and killing Bin Laden in his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan in May 2011. The Senate report is believed to conclude that effective torture did not play a central role in finding the al-Qaida mastermind. Earlier this year, Feinstein said: "The suggestion that the operation was carried out based on information gained through the harsh treatment of CIA detainees is not only inaccurate, it trivialises the work of individuals across multiple US agencies that led to Bin Laden and the eventual operation." The controversy over the role that extreme interrogation methods such as waterboarding played in the hunt for Bin Laden has resurfaced this week with the release of the feature film Zero Dark Thirty which contains graphic re-enactments of the techniques and implies the methods succeeded in extracting key information. Several US senators have protested the portrayal. Paradoxically, the brutal techniques adopted by the CIA during the Bush years were based on those used by Communist Chinese interrogators during the Korean war. US soldiers being sent to the far east were trained to recognise the techniques so that they might resist them more effectively should they be captured. It is not yet clear what strategy the Republican senators on the select committee will take. They essentially boycotted the investigation in 2009 in protest at the decision by Obama to ask the department of justice to launch a separate inquiry into whether the CIA programme was in breach of the law (earlier this year the DoJ dropped its investigation with no criminal charges). Feinstein said the decision on whether or not to release the report would be taken at a later date.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Emergency compromise could allow for a short-term solution to avoid fiscal cliff as Congress prepares to break for Christmas
• Follow the latest fiscal cliff developments live House speaker John Boehner has left open the door for a quick bill that would halt tax increases for the vast majority of Americans on January 1. Boehner twice ducked questions from reporters during a press conference on Capitol Hill on Thursday about whether he was prepared to allow a vote on a bill that would see the top 2% of the country's richest face tax rises but exempt the remaining 98%. With just over two weeks left until the country goes over the so-called fiscal cliff, the House or Representatives broke up until next week with no deal in place. The Democratic leader in the House, Nancy Pelosi, said if a deal is not reached this week or early next week at the latest, there will be no chance of securing the necessary legislation in time. One emergency compromise being discussed in Congress is for a short bill to deal with taxes, and leaving spending cuts until next year. Boehner, the most senior Republican in the House, has consistently expressed opposition to tax rises for the wealthy. Asked at a press conference to give a categorical assurance that he would oppose a bill that would do this, it was significant that he declined. Instead, he said he was not prepared to discuss hypotheticals. "Ifs and ands and buts are like candy and nuts. If that was the case, then every day would be Christmas," Boehner said. He added: "My goal is to get an agreement with the president of the United States that addresses this problem." Boehner has been in direct negotiation with Barack Obama in the search for a deal on tax and spending. With polls showing an overwhelming majority in favour of tax rises on the wealthiest, the Republicans are under pressure, risking taking the blame if every taxpayer sees an increase next month. The latest poll by Pew, taken between December 5 and 9, found 55% saying that Obama was making a serious effort to work with Republicans on a solution to the deficit problem, and that only 32% felt that way about the Republicans. Boehner said the main point of contention between him and Obama is the failure of the president to offer specific cuts in spending. The president had promised a balanced approach, Boehner said. "[But] his proposals have been anything but. He wants far more on tax hikes than on spending cuts, and instead of beginning to solve our debt, he wants new stimulus and to raise the debt limit whenever he wants, without any cuts or reform," the Speaker said. "It is clear the president is just not serious about cutting spending – but spending is the problem." He added: "If the president will step up and show he is willing to make the spending cuts that are needed, I think we can some good in the days ahead." The Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, said the problem was the Republicans, who, in spite of their rhetoric, had failed to agree to tax rises on the wealthiest. "To this day, the Republicans have not identified 5¢ of actual money. They are talking in generalities – 'we'll do revenue, we'll do revenue'. They will not agree to money. "The only people in America that think the richest of the rich shouldn't pay more money are the Republicans in this building." Republican senator Jim DeMint, who surprised Washington last week by saying he intended to resign as senator to head up the conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation, predicted the Republicans will fold on the tax issue. He told CBS: "The president campaigned on raising taxes and getting rid of the Bush-era tax cuts, and he's going to get his wish. I believe we're going to be raising taxes not just on the top earners; everyone is going to be paying more taxes in the country, and I believe that's what the president wants."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | With Assad's regime targeting bakeries, displaced families are starving as harsh weather compounds the struggle for food For the first two months after fleeing Aleppo, Yaser Mohammad slept outside in an olive grove. When it rained, he crawled under a lorry. Home is now a leaking plastic tent on the Syrian side of the Turkish border. "We don't have bread. Fuel is very expensive. There is no electricity, no water," Mohammad said. Another 6,500 Syrians are living in similarly dismal conditions, most having fled the war just down the road in Aleppo. Freezing temperatures and relentless rain over the past week have turned the Bab al-Salam refugee camp into a muddy swimming pool. "See for yourself: our tent contains centimetres of water. We can't sleep at night. We're exhausted. Everybody is exhausted. Our kids have lice." Mohammad, his wife and six children are a tiny part of a much larger catastrophe now enveloping Syria. After 21 months of war, at least two million Syrians have been forced to leave their homes. Hundreds of thousands have fled abroad, where they live in dire conditions. But most are displaced inside Syria – camping in tents, sharing overcrowded rooms with relatives, renting private flats, or squatting in shivering school buildings. This largely invisible exodus has pushed Syria's already strained infrastructure close to collapse. The cardinal problem is bread – Syria's most important food staple. There is not enough to go round; bread is disappearing. In the 21st century, and under the nose of the international community, a nation is sliding into starvation and medieval hunger. In the northern town of Azaz, queues form outside bakeries in the dull sepia hours of early morning; by mid-afternoon hundreds of men, teenaged boys and women are still waiting in the cold outside. Over the past month the situation has got dramatically worse. "I've been waiting here since 4am. I'm still waiting," said Ahmed Yusuf, a nurse with the relief charity Doctors Without Borders. "I've skipped work to find bread. My son queued up yesterday. He spent so long outside he's now sick." Some 20 miles (35kms) from Aleppo, in the rebel-held town of al-Bab, the municipal bread factory had fallen silent. The factory's director, Osama Qasab, explained that his old supply chain had collapsed, leaving them without flour. It was the same situation everywhere. He said: "We don't have enough electricity, so we can't make bread. "The FSA [Free Syrian Army] has promised us a generator. But...," he added, failing to complete his sentence. In many areas, the electricity goes on for a few meagre minutes each evening before vanishing again. In the bitter winter, families sit in the cold and dark. If this were not bad enough, there is overwhelming evidence that the military forces of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad have deliberately targeted bakeries, in what appears to be official policy to starve rebel areas into submission. (It has also hit field hospitals, schools and civilian areas.) The al-Bab factory has been targeted three times; the last time a rocket injured six bakery workers. "We wanted freedom and look what happened. The regime cut everything," Qasab said. A smaller bakery nearby was still operational: 500 people were waiting outside; each had a number scrawled in ink on their palms. It was unclear when, if at all, bread might emerge, like a minor miracle, from a small factory hatch. This week, as desperation rises, the first food demonstrations have broken out in rural areas; some have resorted to trying to bake bread at home, with Syria returning to its Ottoman past. The FSA, in effect the government now in much of Syria's countryside, admits that there is little it can do. In opposition areas, some food is still available. And, to a superficial degree, life is normal. There are markets selling vegetables, restaurants even. But the prices for most Syrians have become fantastical, as if fixed by a demented and mocking god. Fuel oil, or mazout, which was used by Syrians to heat their homes cheaply before the fighting began, has gone up 1,000% from 20 Syrian pounds (17p) a litre to 200. A cylinder of cooking gas costs 3,800 Syrian pounds (£33) – a fortune to most people, especially at a time that spiralling inflation has wiped out savings. Some blame the west for doing too little to assuage what is undoubtedly a major humanitarian disaster. Ahmed Hadad, logistics officer for a Syrian charity, NOR, said he had received just one recent donation of 200 tonnes of flour. He needs 600 tonnes a day just to supply local bakeries – and 1m tonnes a day to feed northern Syria. "It isn't enough. Why is nobody helping? Where is the UN?" he asked, adding bitterly: "People in the west are concerned about dogs and cats. But they don't seem to care about Syrians who are starving here." The 200 tonnes were sitting in a warehouse at the Turkish border: the agency did not have enough money to pay drivers to deliver it to Aleppo. The road is so dangerous, strafed by regime jets and helicopters, that drivers are demanding exorbitant sums to go there, he said. The situation is better in camps outside Syria – in Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey, where international aid agencies such as Save the Children can operate. An estimated 400,000 Syrians have left the country to sit out the war as refugees; since the anti-Assad uprising began in March 2011, at least 40,000 have been killed. But leaving Syria for neighbouring countries has grown increasingly tricky, despite the army of smugglers willing to take refugees across muddy fields and past Turkish checkpoints. "We tried to cross into Turkey. We were turned back," said Umm Anis, a widow living in a soggy tent with her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. "We pray to God to bring down this regime so we can go home." In the Turkish border town of Kilis, officials are not accepting more Syrian refugees – the town is full. Some 21,000 Syrians are already living in a sprawling refugee camp, sleeping in comparatively luxurious shipping containers. Those stuck in Syria have learned to improvise. On the Bab al-Salam camp side of the border, families have hung washing between olive trees; children hawk biscuits and cigarettes; families boil water over makeshift fires lit with scavenged wood. The camp authorities serve two meals a day: a breakfast of bread and jam; and a late afternoon meal: a plastic container of pasta. In the unlikely event that Syria's war were to end tomorrow, many of those displaced have nothing to go back to. Abu Ahmed, a 42-year-old driver from Aleppo, said he had fled his house in the suburb of Hanano on 27 July, when the regime started bombing and shelling indiscriminately. "My house has been completely looted," he said. The regime army followed by the shabiha – Assad's feared paramilitaries – had swept through the area 10 weeks ago and taken absolutely everything, he said. He added: "I've been in a tent for the past two months." To some extent, those in camps are the more fortunate. A few kilometres away, outside the town of Azaz, 60-year-old Hamida is living in a concrete hovel with her two grown-up daughters. She fled Azaz four months ago to escape fighting between the FSA and regime forces; a shell demolished her house. (After a furious battle the rebels took control of Azaz and the nearby border crossing. The town is relatively calm: small boys play amid the wreckage of government tanks and masonry, swinging on gun barrels or jumping in and out of turrets.) One of Hamida's daughters, Zakiya, was outside coaxing a flame from a brazier; inside it was cold, damp, and dark. The women had no electricity and no roof – merely a soggy fabric tarpaulin stretched between two walls. There is scant medicine here – and no money with which to buy it; Zakiya had a severe cough. Some aid is getting through: a local FSA commander, Abu Ibrahim, dropped by with a couple of blankets for the women. But it is not enough. Hamida said her infirm husband was living with her son in Azaz: three adults and five children sharing one room. On the outskirts of town, Hussein Ibrahim was hitching a life back to his village of Soran. He said he had spent the day in Azaz in the hope of finding bread. "The first factory had broken down. They said the machines weren't working properly. By the time I reached the other factory there was a big crowd." He left without any bread. What would he eat? "I don't know," he said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Ratings agency S&P revises the UK outlook from stable to negative
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Men are living 11 years longer and women 12 years compared with 40 years ago, although health problems are also rising Life expectancy around the world has risen dramatically, by 11 years for men and 12 years for women over the last four decades, but we are paying the price in more mental and physical health problems, according to the biggest-ever study of the global burden of disease. A massive international research project, which took five years and involved 500 people, has produced the most comprehensive and ambitious database of the world's health ever attempted. It shows dramatic changes since 1970, with the rapid decline in deaths from infectious diseases and malnutrition and the vastly improved survival of small children. Most deaths in the world are now from heart disease and stroke, which killed an estimated 12·9 million people in 2010, a quarter of the global total. High blood pressure is the biggest risk factor for death today – responsible for 9.4 million deaths and 7% of disability – followed by smoking, which caused 6.3 million deaths. Alcohol comes third, responsible for five million deaths worldwide, but a massive issue in eastern Europe, where it causes almost a quarter of all disease, and a serious problem also in Latin America. Physical inactivity and diet – particularly those with high levels of sodium or salt and low levels of fruit consumption – were responsible for 12.5 million deaths. With lengthening lives, however, the biggest issue for humanity may well be disability. Although we live longer, we do not necessarily enjoy more years of health. In the two decades to 2010, men's life expectancy increased by 4.7 years and women's by 5.1 years – but the extra years of good health were only 3.9 years and 4 years respectively, which suggests that illness and disability are taking a greater toll of our lives than they were 20 years ago. The biggest problems are mental illness, including anxiety, musculoskeletal pain and sight and hearing loss. Women in four countries however – Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Spain – have a healthy life expectancy greater than 70 years. In no country do men enjoy the same length of healthy life and only in Afghanistan, Jordan and Mali do they live longer in good health than women. Japanese women also have the longest life expectancy, living on average almost to 86, while the longest lived men are in Iceland, with life expectancy of 80 years. The findings that people are living longer but with worse health could trigger a rethink not only in our expectations but also the way all health systems work. "We're finding that very few people are walking around with perfect health and that, as people age, they accumulate health conditions," said Dr Christopher Murray, director of the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation of the University of Washington, which led the work published by the Lancet medical journal and launched at the Royal Society in London. "At an individual level, this means we should re-calibrate what life will be like for us in our 70s and 80s. It also has profound implications for health systems as they set priorities."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | John Boehner and the Republicans continue to bicker as new poll shows both sides get blamed if there is no deal
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Landmark European court of human rights brands CIA treatment of wrongly detained Khaled el-Masri as torture CIA agents tortured a German citizen, sodomising, shackling, and beating him, as Macedonian state police looked on, the European court of human rights said in a historic judgment released on Thursday. In a unanimous ruling, it also found Macedonia guilty of torturing, abusing, and secretly imprisoning Khaled el-Masri, a German of Lebanese origin allegedly linked to terrorist organisations. Masri was seized in Macedonia in December 2003 and handed over to a CIA "rendition team" at Skopje airport and secretly flown to Afghanistan. It is the first time the court has described CIA treatment meted out to terror suspects as torture. "The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights unanimously found that Mr el-Masri was subjected to forced disappearance, unlawful detention, extraordinary rendition outside any judicial process, and inhuman and degrading treatment," said James Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative. He described the judgment as "an authoritative condemnation of some of the most objectionable tactics employed in the post-9/11 war on terror." It should be a wake-up call for the Obama administration and US courts, he told the Guardian. For them to continue to avoid serious scrutiny of CIA activities was "simply unacceptable", he said. Jamil Dakwar, of the American Civil Liberties Union, described the ruling as "a huge victory for justice and the rule of law". The Strasbourg court said it found Masri's account of what happened to him "to be established beyond reasonable doubt" and that Macedonia had been "responsible for his torture and ill-treatment both in the country itself and after his transfer to the US authorities in the context of an extra-judicial 'rendition'". In January 2004, Macedonian police took him to a hotel in Skopje, where he was kept locked in a room for 23 days and questioned in English, despite his limited proficiency in that language, about his alleged ties with terrorist organisations, the court said in its judgment. His requests to contact the German embassy were refused. At one point, when he said he intended to leave, he was threatened with being shot. "Masri's treatment at Skopje Airport at the hands of the CIA rendition team – being severely beaten, sodomised, shackled and hooded, and subjected to total sensory deprivation – had been carried out in the presence of state officials of [Macedonia] and within its jurisdiction," the court ruled. It added: "Its government was consequently responsible for those acts performed by foreign officials. It had failed to submit any arguments explaining or justifying the degree of force used or the necessity of the invasive and potentially debasing measures. Those measures had been used with premeditation, the aim being to cause Mr Masri severe pain or suffering in order to obtain information. In the court's view, such treatment had amounted to torture, in violation of Article 3 [of the European human rights convention]." In Afghanistan, Masri was incarcerated for more than four months in a small, dirty, dark concrete cell in a brick factory near the capital, Kabul, where he was repeatedly interrogated and was beaten, kicked and threatened. His repeated requests to meet with a representative of the German government were ignored, said the court. Masri was released in April 2004. He was taken, blindfolded and handcuffed, by plane to Albania and subsequently to Germany, after the CIA admited he was wrongy detained. The Macedonian government, which the court ordered must pay Masri €60,000 (£49,000) in compensation, has denied involvement in kidnapping. UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, Ben Emmerson, described the ruling as "a key milestone in the long struggle to secure accountability of public officials implicated in human rights violations committed by the Bush administration CIA in its policy of secret detention, rendition and torture". He said the US government must issue an apology for its "central role in a web of systematic crimes and human rights violations by the Bush-era CIA, and to pay voluntary compensation to Mr el-Masri". Germany should ensure that the US officials involved in this case are now brought to trial.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Ratings agency S&P revises the UK outlook from stable to negative
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | • Lincoln gets seven nominations
• Django Unchained and Argo are on five
• Les Miserables, Silver Linings Playbook and Zero Dark Thirty trail with four apiece Steven Spielberg's presidential drama Lincoln leads the field at this year's Golden Globe nominations with seven nods, including best director, best drama and best actor. Ben Affleck's Argo and Quentin Tarantino's much-acclaimed Django Unchained are hot on its heels with five, while Les Miserables, Silver Linings Playbook and Zero Dark Thirty follow with four apiece. Trailing the leaders with three nominations are Ang Lee's Life of Pi, Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master and, more surprisingly, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Both Judi Dench and Maggie Smith have acting nods – the former for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which also is up for best comedy or musical; the later for her role in Quartet. Helen Mirren is nominated best actress for Hitchcock, that film's sole mention. More surprises included a nod for Nicole Kidman as best supporting actress for her role in The Paperboy, and Richard Gere as best actor for Arbitrage. In the best song category, Adele looks like the favourite for her title theme to Skyfall; but there was disappointment for Jonny Greenwood, whose score for The Master did not make the cut. The Sessions is up for best actor, for John Hawkes, and best supporting actress, for Helen Hunt. The nominations were released in two bouts, announced by Ed Helms, Jessica Alba and Megan Fox. The Cecil B DeMille award goes to Jodie Foster. The Golden Globes will take place on 13 January, with new hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler taking over from Ricky Gervais. The Oscars follow more than a month later, on 26 February. More details to come …
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Wlodzimierz Umaniec claimed writing his name and a slogan in black paint was an act of 'yellowism' comparable to Duchamp A man who vandalised one of Tate Modern's most cherished Mark Rothko paintings has been jailed for two years for actions the judge described as "entirely deliberate, planned and intentional". Wlodzimierz Umaniec, also known as Vladimir Umanets, a 26-year-old Polish national who lives in Worthing, West Sussex, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to criminal damage in excess of £5,000. In this case it was well in excess, with estimates suggesting it will cost more than £200,000 and 20 months to restore. Judge Roger Chapple, at Inner London crown court, said it was "abundantly clear" that Umaniec was "plainly an intelligent man" who regarded Rothko as a "great painter". The incident happened at around 3.25pm on 7 October this year, when Umaniec approached one of Rothko's Seagram murals, Black on Maroon, took out a brush and some black paint and wrote his name along with 'A Potential Piece of Yellowism' in the corner of the work. He later claimed it was an artistic act, comparing himself to Marcel Duchamp, whose appropriation of a urinal in 1917 led to him being regarded as the father of conceptual art. Umaniec had told the BBC: "Art allows us to take what someone's done and put a new message on it." But Chapple, on the subject of "yellowism", said it was "wholly and utterly unacceptable to promote it by damaging a work of art". Rothko's Seagram murals, originally planned for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York, were a gift to the Tate by the artist in 1969 and are regarded as some of Tate Modern's most important works. The court heard that Umaniec went to the gallery intending to put his "signature" on a picture, but decided to damage the Rothko painting only at the time he saw it on display. After it was discovered, the gallery was put into "operation shutdown" with people prevented from leaving or entering the building. Chapple said the incident had led to galleries reviewing security arrangements at a cost to themselves and the taxpayer. "The effects of such security reviews is to distance the public from the works of art they come to enjoy," he said. Gregor McKinley, prosecuting, said: "Sotheby's has given Tate Modern a verbal estimate of pre-damage value of approximately between £5m to just over £9m." The restoration will be long and difficult, not least because Rothko often used unusual materials, including eggs and glue, to create his works.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Kremlin acknowledges Assad is losing control of the country but laments 'bloody price' that must be paid for president to go Russia has acknowledged for the first time that the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is losing control of the country. "One must look the facts in the face. The tendency is that the regime and government of Syria is losing more and more control, and more and more territory," Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, said on Thursday, Russian news agencies reported. "Unfortunately, the victory of the Syrian opposition cannot be ruled out." "Today we are dealing with issues of preparing an evacuation. We have a mobilisation plan, we are figuring out where our citizens are," he said. An estimated 5,300 Russian citizens live in Syria. Bogdanov's statement was the first time a Russian official has publicly considered the possibility of an opposition victory in the conflict, which is estimated to have killed more than 40,000 people. Russia has stood by Assad, providing his regime with weapons and repeatedly blocking UN actions despite an international outcry. Speaking during a hearing at the Public Chamber, an advisory body to the Kremlin, Bogdanov did not indicate that Russia had changed its stance and said the bloody price to be paid for Assad's ousting was "unacceptable". "The fighting will become even more intense, and you will lose ten of thousands and, perhaps, hundreds of thousands of people," he warned. "If such a price for the ousting of the president seems acceptable to you, what can we do? We, of course, consider it absolutely unacceptable." He said Syria's rebels had been buoyed by arms shipments from abroad and increasing international recognition of Syria's opposition coalition as the country's legitimate representation. The US president, Barack Obama, recognised the coalition during an interview on Tuesday. "[The rebels] say that victory is no longer beyond the mountains – 'soon we'll take Aleppo, soon we'll take Damascus' – and that they already control 60% of the territory," Bogdanov said. He accused the west of waging a campaign to diminish Russia's influence in the Middle East. "The expanded campaign by the west, with support from the Arab League, to distort Russia's position on Syria is aimed at weakening our influence in the region and freezing future relations between Russia and the countries of the Middle East and North Africa." Russia has firmly stood its ground on Syria after accusing the west of manipulating a UN mandate to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya in order to overthrow the regime of Muammar Gadaffi, who, along with Assad, was one of Moscow's last few remaining allies in the region. Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor of Russia in Global Affairs, said Bogdanov's statements marked a shift in Russian analysis of the situation, but would change little on the ground. "This is a shift for sure. The question is: so what?" he said. "The Russian position has always been that we never endorse Assad personally. Russia was in favour of a political solution, a political solution failed and now the opposition will win. 'That's too bad': that's the thinking." "It's a bad thing for [Russia's] image, for status, but business as usual ended with Bashar al-Assad maybe a year ago because it was already clear then that normal co-operation and commercial contracts would not be possible anymore," he said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Sami al-Saadi, wife and four children were secretly flown from Hong Kong to Tripoli where he was tortured by Gaddafi police Ministers have agree to pay more than £2m to the family of a prominent Libyan dissident abducted with the help of MI6 and secretly flown to Tripoli where he was tortured by the security police of the former dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Having sought for years to avoid the agents of the Libyan dictator, Sami al-Saadi was forced on board a plane in Hong Kong with his wife and four young children in a joint UK-US-Libyan operation. They were then flown to Libya, where all of them were initially imprisoned. Saadi was held and tortured for years. The Saadi family had accepted a settlement of £2.23m, the high court heard on Thursday. The government paid the sum by way of compensation and without admitting any liability. Evidence of the UK's role in the operation – believed to be the only case where an entire family was subjected to "extraordinary rendition" – came to light after Gaddafi's fall in 2011. CIA correspondence with Libyan intelligence, found in the spy chief Moussa Koussa's office in Tripoli by Human Rights Watch, states: "We are … aware that your service had been co-operating with the British to effect [Saadi's] removal to Tripoli … the Hong Kong government may be able to co-ordinate with you to render [Saadi] and his family into your custody." The operation was arranged in 2004 at the time of Tony Blair's "deal in the desert" with Gaddafi, after which UK intelligence services helped track down and hand over his opponents. Another Libyan victim was Abdel Hakim Belhaj, who was rendered alongside his pregnant wife. A letter from the MI6 head of counter-terrorism Sir Mark Allen to Koussa, also found in Tripoli, said: "I congratulate you on the safe arrival of [Belhaj]. This was the least we could do for you and for Libya. I know I did not pay for the air cargo [but] the intelligence [on him] was British." Belhaj is pursuing his legal action against the British government. Saadi said on Thursday: "My family suffered enough when they were kidnapped and flown to Gaddafi's Libya. They will now have the chance to complete their education in the new, free Libya. I will be able to afford the medical care I need because of the injuries I suffered in prison." He said: "I started this process believing that a British trial would get to the truth in my case. But today, with the government trying to push through secret courts, I feel that to proceed is not best for my family. I went through a secret trial once before, in Gaddafi's Libya. In many ways, it was as bad as the torture. It is not an experience I care to repeat. "Even now, the British government has never given an answer to the simple question: 'Were you involved in the kidnap of me, my wife and my children?' I think the payment speaks for itself." He said his family would donate some of the proceeds to support other Libyan torture victims. "We look forward to the result of the police investigation and hope there will be a full and fair public inquiry into our case," he said. His eldest daughter, Khadija, who was rendered to Libya aged 12, said: "I wrote to [the then justice secretary] Ken Clarke when I heard about the secret courts plan, but he would not say that he would not seek to try my case in secret. I still feel this would have been unnecessary, unfair and unworthy of the UK. I hope the inquiry will be as open and as fair as the phone-hacking inquiry." Kat Craig, legal director of the charity Reprieve, which acts for the two families, said: "We now know that Tony Blair's 'deal in the desert' was bought with ugly compromises. Perhaps the ugliest was for MI6 to deliver a whole family to one of the world's most brutal dictators." Sapna Malik, of Leigh Day, the law firm representing the families, said: "The sheer terror experienced by the Saadi family when they were bundled on to their rendition flight and delivered up to their nemesis clearly lives with them all to this day. Having concluded one part of their quest for justice, they now look to the British criminal courts to hold those responsible for their ordeal to account and await the judge-led inquiry they have been promised." Belhaj, who last year led the battle for Tripoli, said: "When my friend Sami al-Saadi was freed from Abu Salim prison on 23 August 2011, he weighed seven stone. He was close to death. It is a miracle he survived his ordeal and is home with his family."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Team set up to probe alleged illegal activity after phone-hacking scandal is costing more than £1m a week News Corporation's management and standards committee, established last year to root out alleged illegal activity at News International following the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, is costing Rupert Murdoch's newspaper group in excess of £1m a week and has cost £100m in total. The expense of running the body – which has passed information relating to alleged phone hacking, corrupt payments to public officials and other potential illegal activity to Scotland Yard – amounted to £76.8m in the year to 30 June 2012, according to accounts filed at Companies House on Tuesday. That figure dwarfs the £17.5m paid out in damages and legal fees to civil claimants over phone hacking and other alleged invasions of privacy. It is the largest of a string of mostly phone hacking-related charges that together amount to a quarter of a billion pounds that ensured that News Corp's traditionally profitable British businesses – the Sun, Times and Sunday Times publisher News International and Harper Collins UK – ran up an overall loss of £189.4m on turnover of £1.18bn. The cost of MSC, which is working with lawyers from Linklaters and Olswang, reached £99.7m between 31 June 2011 and 26 November 2012, according to the Companies House filings. The body, chaired by top commercial lawyer Lord Grabiner, was set up by News Corp in early 2011 to investigate allegations of criminal offences by journalists at the now-closed News of the World, the Sun, the Times and Sunday Times. The phone-hacking saga cost News International £140.9m in the year to 1 July, according to accounts filed by NI Group Limited, the parent company of Murdoch's UK newspapers. Part of this £140.9m is the £76.8m costs in relation to the MSC, plus a further £17.5m in claimants' legal fees and damages. The company incurred an additional £46.6m charge in relation to the closure of the News of the World. Restructuring costs at News International reached £51.6m in the period, the accounts show, including £22.2m in redundancy payments to News of the World staff after its abrupt closure last summer. The £150m sale in May of News International's Wapping site contributed to a loss on disposal of fixed assets of £65.2m in the year to 30 June. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Team set up to probe alleged illegal activity after phone-hacking scandal is costing more than £1m a week News Corporation's management and standards committee, established last year to root out alleged illegal activity at News International following the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, is costing Rupert Murdoch's newspaper group in excess of £1m a week and has cost £100m in total. The expense of running the body – which has passed information relating to alleged phone hacking, corrupt payments to public officials and other potential illegal activity to Scotland Yard – amounted to £76.8m in the year to 30 June 2012, according to accounts filed at Companies House on Tuesday. That figure dwarfs the £17.5m paid out in damages and legal fees to civil claimants over phone hacking and other alleged invasions of privacy. It is the largest of a string of mostly phone hacking-related charges that together amount to a quarter of a billion pounds that ensured that News Corp's traditionally profitable British businesses – the Sun, Times and Sunday Times publisher News International and Harper Collins UK – ran up an overall loss of £189.4m on turnover of £1.18bn. The cost of MSC, which is working with lawyers from Linklaters and Olswang, reached £99.7m between 31 June 2011 and 26 November 2012, according to the Companies House filings. The body, chaired by top commercial lawyer Lord Grabiner, was set up by News Corp in early 2011 to investigate allegations of criminal offences by journalists at the now-closed News of the World, the Sun, the Times and Sunday Times. The phone-hacking saga cost News International £140.9m in the year to 1 July, according to accounts filed by NI Group Limited, the parent company of Murdoch's UK newspapers. Part of this £140.9m is the £76.8m costs in relation to the MSC, plus a further £17.5m in claimants' legal fees and damages. The company incurred an additional £46.6m charge in relation to the closure of the News of the World. Restructuring costs at News International reached £51.6m in the period, the accounts show, including £22.2m in redundancy payments to News of the World staff after its abrupt closure last summer. The £150m sale in May of News International's Wapping site contributed to a loss on disposal of fixed assets of £65.2m in the year to 30 June. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Passengers say 400 travellers have had winter vomiting bug but cruiseliner claims just six had 'mild gastrointestinal illness' A dream Christmas cruise has turned into the holiday from hell, according to passengers who claim as many as 400 travellers have been struck down with the norovirus winter vomiting bug. One traveller aboard the P&O liner Oriana, which is on a 10-night Baltic cruise out of Southampton visiting Christmas markets, said people felt like they were sailing on a "plague ship". P&O's parent company Carnival said there had been "an incidence of a mild gastrointestinal illness" among the passengers. The spokeswoman added that, as of Thursday, out of 1,843 passengers "the number of passengers with active symptoms is six". One passenger, Paul Gilman, 62, told the Daily Mail: "It has been outrageous from start to finish. People were falling like flies, yet the crew were trying to insist everything was fine. "Everyone is saying this is a plague ship. It's a living nightmare." Another passenger, Brian Weston, 67, from the Isle of Wight, said: "It's been a shambles from start to finish. Passengers became ill almost immediately we set sail and the outbreak swept like wildfire through the ship. "At one stage there were dozens and dozens of people falling ill, though the ship's senior officers were trying to play it down." His wife, Denise, 60, said: "A viral specialist who is a passenger told us the ship should not have set sail for 48 hours and should have gone through a deep clean." The UK's Health Protection Agency has reported a 72% increase in the vomiting bug so far this season. The Oriana left Southampton on 4 December, with passengers paying up to £1,400 for the voyage, which included visits to Copenhagen, Oslo and Amsterdam. The Carnival spokeswoman said: "Enhanced sanitation protocols have already been implemented to help minimise transmission to other passengers. These comprehensive disinfection protocols have been developed by P&O Cruises in conjunction with UK and US public health authorities. "The safety and comfort of passengers and crew is always our number one priority. "As is currently standard procedure across our fleet, all the ship's passengers were provided with a precautionary health notice advising of widespread norovirus activity and the health measures to avoid contraction and spread, both on board and while ashore."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Inquest hears that nurse who took hoax call during Duchess of Cambridge's treatment left three notes The nurse who died after a hoax call to the hospital treating the Duchess of Cambridge was found hanged, an inquest has heard. Jacintha Saldanha, 46, left three notes and there were also injuries to her wrists, the Westminster coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, was told at the formal opening of the inquest. Detective Chief Inspector James Harman told the five-minute hearing: "On Friday 7 December Jacintha Saldanha was found by colleagues and a member of security staff. "At this time there are no suspicious circumstances apparent to me in relation to this death. "A number of notes were recovered. Two notes were at the scene and a further note was found in the deceased's belongings. Three notes in total," he said. Saldanha, a mother of two, was identified by her husband, an accountant. Harman said: "There are a number of emails that are of relevance in helping us establish what may have led to this death and we are also looking at the deceased's telephone contacts. "Detectives spoke to a number of witnesses, family, friends, colleagues in order to establish anything that led or may have contributed to this tragic death." Saldanha was found three days after two Australian DJs from 2Day FM rang the King Edward VII hospital posing as the Queen and Prince Charles in a prank call. It is understood she took the call, made in the early hours of Tuesday last week and, believing she was talking to the Queen, put her through to a duty nurse on the duchess's ward. Harman told the coroner: "You will be aware of the wider circumstances of this case. And I expect in the very near future we shall be in contact with colleagues in New South Wales to establish the best means of putting the evidence before you." The coroner's officer Lynda Martindill told the hearing Saldanha, born in India, was a registered nurse and night nurse. Toxicoloy and histology test results were pending. Adjoiurning the inquest until 26 March, Wilcox spoke directly to Saldanha's colleagues, who attended the hearing. "I wish to pass on my sympathy to you and her family and all those touched by this terribly tragic death." No family members were present. Speaking outside the inquest, MP Keith Vaz, who is acting as the family's spokesman, said Saldanha's relatives were "grieving in their homes … They are comforting each other and the community is comforting them." Vaz said he had passed on the coroner's comments. The family were grateful to the coroner's office and Metropolitan police, he added. A memorial service would be held in Bristol, where the family home is, on Friday. Another would be held in the chapel at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday. • For confidential support call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Finance ministers have agreed to hand the ECB powers to police eurozone banks in a new phase of closer integration to underpin the euro
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US and allies push for punishment over launch of satellite, whose mission is not known A satellite that North Korea launched on a long-range rocket is orbiting normally, South Korean officials say, following a defiant liftoff that drew a wave of international condemnation. Washington and its allies are pushing for punishment over the launch, which they say is a test of banned ballistic missile technology. The launch of a three-stage rocket similar in design to a model capable of carrying a nuclear-tipped warhead as far as California raises the stakes in the international standoff over North Korea's expanding atomic arsenal. As Pyongyang refines its technology, its next step may be conducting its third nuclear test, experts warn. The UN security council, which has punished North Korea repeatedly for developing its nuclear programme, condemned Wednesday's launch and said it would urgently consider "an appropriate response". The White House called the launch a "highly provocative act that threatens regional security", and even the North's most important ally, China, expressed regret. In Pyongyang, however, pride over the scientific advancement outweighed the fear of greater international isolation and punishment. North Koreans clinked beer mugs and danced in the streets to celebrate. "It's really good news," Jon Il-gwang told the Associated Press as he and scores of other Pyongyang residents poured into the streets after a noon announcement to celebrate the launch by dancing in the snow. "It clearly testifies that our country has the capability to enter into space." South Korea's defence ministry said on Thursday that the satellite was orbiting normally at a speed of 4.7 miles (7.6km) per second, though it is not known what mission it is performing. North Korean space officials said the satellite would be used to study crops and weather patterns. The defence ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said it usually took about two weeks to determine whether a satellite worked successfully after liftoff. He cited data from the North American Aerospace Defence Command. Wednesday's launch was North Korea's fifth attempt since 1998. An April launch failed in the first of three stages, raising doubts among outside observers whether North Korea could fix what was wrong in eight months, but those doubts were erased on Wednesday. The Unha rocket, Korean for "galaxy", blasted off from a launch pad north-west of Pyongyang just three days after North Korea indicated that technical problems might delay the launch. South Korean navy ships found what appeared to be debris from the first stage rocket in the Yellow Sea and were trying to retrieve them on Thursday, defence officials said. The debris is believed to be a fuel container of the first stage rocket. The officials said South Korea had no plans to return it to North Korea because the launch violated UN council resolutions. The North American Aerospace Defence Command confirmed that "initial indications are that the missile deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit". The launch could leave Pyongyang even more isolated and cut off from much-needed aid and trade. The UN imposed two rounds of sanctions following nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 and ordered the North not to conduct any launches using ballistic missile technology. Pyongyang maintains its right to develop a civilian space programme, saying the satellite will send back crucial scientific data. Pyongyang is thought to have a handful of rudimentary nuclear bombs, but experts believe the North lacks the ability to make a warhead small enough to mount on a missile that could threaten the United States.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Japanese military scrambles eight F-15 fighter jets after Chinese government plane enters airspace over Senkaku Islands Japan has protested to China after a Chinese government plane entered what Japan considers its airspace over disputed islands in the East China Sea, the Japanese foreign ministry said. The incident prompted Japan's military to scramble eight F-15 fighter jets, the defence ministry said. Japanese officials later said the Chinese aircraft had left the area. Sino-Japanese relations took a tumble in September after Japan bought the tiny islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, from a private Japanese owner. "Despite our repeated warnings, Chinese government ships have entered our territorial waters for three days in an row," Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Osama Fujimura, told reporters. "It is extremely regrettable that, on top of that, an intrusion into our airspace has been committed in this way," he said, adding that Japan had formally protested through diplomatic channels. A defence ministry spokesman said as far as he knew it was the first time this year that a Chinese plane had intruded into airspace near the islands. The incident comes just days before a Japanese election that is expected to return to power the conservative Liberal Democratic party with the hawkish former prime minister Shinzo Abe at the helm. Abe has promised to take a stern stance in the dispute over the islands – which are near potentially huge maritime gas reserves – and to boost spending on defence, including on the Coast Guard. He has said the ruling Democratic party's mishandling of its diplomacy has emboldened China. Smaller Asian countries, such as the Philippines, have become increasingly worried about Beijing's growing military assertiveness and its claims to disputed islands in the South China Sea.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | There were plenty of old Brits – but not that many women – at Madison Square Garden to raise money for hurricane victims The 12-12-12 concert to raise money for victims of hurricane Sandy might have been seen and heard all over the world, but it was Brit night at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. More specifically, it was old Brit night. With a lineup of the Rolling Stones, the Who, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters and Chris Martin, all of whom came in to help the cause, the event was a reminder of the good old days of the special relationship between Britain and the United States. The show opened with dramatic pictures of the hurricane's winds, rain and waves attacking and drastically altering the landscape around New York City and New Jersey. It's hard to remember it was only six weeks ago; the spectacle of it already seemed unreal. It made sense that the opening act was New Jersey's greatest star, Bruce Springsteen, who began with Land of Hope and Dreams as the camera panned forward over the mainly white, mainly middle-aged, affluent crowd on the stadium floor. Everyone was standing, but there was a general lack of focus as the concert began. Many audience members seemed to be chatting to each other rather than watching the stage. "You probably can't tell at home but they've definitely turned the speakers up to 11 tonight," tweeted Springsteen as he performed. He was right, we couldn't tell. There were audio bugs throughout Springsteen's half-hour set and when Bon Jovi came on stage to join him he was carrying a microphone that didn't work and he could hardly be heard on Born to Run. The Brits took over when Roger Waters strolled on stage for The Wall. Waters only performed Pink Floyd numbers, and the absence of his former partner Dave Gilmour was noted during guitar solos on Money and Comfortably Numb. But Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder filled the gap beautifully as he sang the song's main vocal. This was always going to be a long show. The longer it ran, the more money it could raise. And with a download of the event available for presale on iTunes heavily promoted throughout the event (another revenue stream) the organisers were maximising every opportunity to raise cash. So it was a shame when, halfway through, the website crashed and the phone lines were so overwhelmed they couldn't connect. Who knows how many dollars waiting to be pledged didn't get through? Waters was followed by Eric Clapton, and it was at this point that remarks about the age of performers began to flood the internet. "Have to respect the passion Bruce brings to the stage!" said one. "Especially for being in his 60s. Sweet vest too." "Eric Clapton: the only 67-year-old who can rock the hipster glasses just as much as he rocks his guitar." Of course when the Stones came on to play a brisk two songs: You Got Me Rockin and Jumping Jack Flash (Opening line – "I was born in a crossfire hurricane") Mick immediately joined in on the joke. "This has to be the largest collection of old British musicians ever at Madison Square Garden," he said. "And if it rains in London you've got to come and help us out." The first, and only, woman to perform as a headliner – Alicia Keys – didn't come on stage till almost three hours into the concert. She played for about 15 minutes, before things returned to normal with the advent of the Who's Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend (or Keith Moon as Brian Williams called him). There followed the evening's highlight for some and lowlight for others, as Daltrey bared his tan, very buff, hairless chest and kept it exposed as he sang. For a very long time. The Who led into Kanye West dressed in a leather kilt who led to Long Island's Billy Joel performing his iconic New York State of Mind as well as a bunch of his other greatest hits. Then the Brits returned in the person of Chris Martin who sang an unplugged version of Viva La Vida before bringing Michael Stipe of REM "out of retirement" to sing a low-key and moving Losing My Religion. It was left to Sir. Paul. McCartney. (as Quentin Tarantino introduced him) to close the show. By the time he came onstage in extremely high-waisted jeans, we were on day two and it was well after midnight on 12-13-12. "Thank you for staying," said McCartney gratefully. He sang Helter Skelter then Let Me Roll It followed by a song from his Wings portfolio before finally, at 12.50am, two hours and 35 minutes after the last one left, another woman came onstage. Diana Krall – an amazing talent. Not that you'd have known. Krall didn't even get to sing. She briefly accompanied Macca on the piano for My Valentine before silently disappearing into the wings to be noisily replaced onstage by Nirvana. Before I end I should mention that there was a healthy representation of comic talent punctuating the night. From Billy Crystal to Adam Sandler to Chris Rock to the cast of Saturday Night Live, they were there. But again, no female comedians took the stage. (Where were you, New York residents Tina Fey and Lena Dunham?) And the comedy was underwhelming and unfunny. McCartney brought the house to its tearful feet with Live and Let Die as the tired audience looked around for their coats and bags. Around the world, other audiences got ready for bed or for work. A solitary firework exploded and rescue workers, police and firemen came on stage for their bows. Alicia Keys returned and surrounded by the real stars of hurricane Sandy sang Empire State of Mind. It was the perfect finish.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | There were plenty of old Brits, but not that many women, at the concert to raise money for hurricane Sandy victims The 12-12-12 concert might have been seen and heard all over the world, and the devastation might have hit New York and New Jersey hard, but Wednesday night's concert in Madison Square Garden to raise money in aid of the victims of hurricane Sandy was Brit night. More specifically, it was Old Brit night. With a lineup of the Rolling Stones, the Who, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters and Chris Martin, all of whom came in to help the cause, the event was a reminder of the good old days of the special relationship between England and the United States. The show opened with dramatic pictures of the hurricane's winds, rain and waves attacking and drastically altering the landscape around New York City. It's hard to remember it was only six weeks ago; the spectacle of it already seemed unreal. It made sense that the opening act was New Jersey's greatest star, Bruce Springsteen, who began with Land of Hope and Dreams as the camera panned forward over the mainly white, mainly middle-aged, affluent crowd on the stadium floor. Everyone was standing, but there was a general lack of focus as the concert began. Many audience members seemed to be chatting to each other rather than watching the stage. "You probably can't tell at home but they've definitely turned the speakers up to 11 tonight," tweeted Springsteen as he performed. He was right, we couldn't tell. There were audio bugs throughout Springsteen's half-hour set and when Bon Jovi came on stage to join him he was carrying a microphone that didn't work and he could hardly be heard on Born to Run. The Brits took over when Roger Waters strolled on stage for The Wall. Waters only performed Pink Floyd numbers, and the absence of his former partner Dave Gilmour was noted during guitar solos on Money and Comfortably Numb. But Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder filled the gap beautifully as he sang the main vocal part on the song. This was always going to be a long show. The longer it ran, the more money it could raise. And with a download of the event available for presale on iTunes heavily promoted throughout the event (another revenue stream) the organizers were maximizing on every opportunity to raise dollars. So it was a shame when halfway through the website crashed and the phone lines were so overwhelmed they couldn't connect. Who knows how many dollars waiting to be pledged didn't get through. Waters was followed by Eric Clapton, and it was at this point that remarks about the age of performers began to flood the internet. "Have to respect the passion Bruce brings to the stage!" said one. "Especially for being in his 60s. Sweet vest too." "Eric Clapton: the only 67-year-old who can rock the hipster glasses just as much as he rocks his guitar." Of course when the Stones came on to play a brisk two songs: You Got Me Rockin and Jumping Jack Flash (Opening line – "I was born in a crossfire hurricane") Mick immediately joined in on the joke. "This has to be the largest collection of old British musicians ever at Madison Square Garden," he said. "And if it rains in London you've got to come and help us out." The first AND ONLY woman to perform as a headliner – Alicia Keys – didn't come on stage till almost three hours into the concert. She played for about 15 minutes, before things returned to normal with the advent of the Who's Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend (or Keith Moon as Brian Williams called him). There followed the evening's highlight for some and lowlight for others, as Daltrey bared his tan, very buff, hairless chest and kept it exposed as he sang. For a very long time. The Who led into Kanye West dressed in a leather kilt who led to Long Island's Billy Joel performing his iconic New York State of Mind as well as a bunch of his other greatest hits. Then the Brits returned in the person of Chris Martin who sang an unplugged version of Viva La Vida before bringing Michael Stipe of R.E.M "out of retirement" to sing a low-key and moving Losing My Religion. It was left to Sir. Paul. McCartney. (as Quentin Tarantino introduced him) to close the show. By the time he came onstage in extremely high-waisted jeans, we were on day two and it was well after midnight on 12-13-12. "Thank you for STAYING," said McCartney gratefully. He sang Helter Skelter then Let Me Roll It followed by a song from his Wings portfolio before finally, at 12.50am, two hours and 35 minutes after the last one left, another woman came onstage. Diana Krall – an amazing talent. Not that you'd have known. Krall didn't even get to sing. She briefly accompanied Macca on the piano for My Valentine before silently disappearing into the wings to be noisily replaced onstage by Nirvana. Before I end I should mention that there was a healthy representation of comic talent punctuating the night. From Billy Crystal to Adam Sandler to Chris Rock to the cast of Saturday Night Live, they were there. But again, no female comedians took the stage. (Where were you, New York residents Tina Fey and Lena Dunham?) And the comedy was underwhelming and unfunny. McCartney brought the house to its tearful feet with Live and Let Die as the tired audience looked around for their coats and bags. Around the world, other audiences got ready for bed or for work. A solitary firework exploded and rescue workers, police and firemen came on stage for their bows. Alicia Keys returned and surrounded by the real stars of hurricane Sandy sang Empire State of Mind. It was the perfect finish.
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