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Nurses Association Condemn Rahm Emmanuel For Occupy Chicago Arrests

Oh, I had hoped we heard the last of Rahm Emmanuel on the national scene. No such luck : Registered nurses from across the U.S. today condemned Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel for his decision to arrest nurse volunteers, as well as peaceful protesters, in a late night crackdown, Oct. 22 at the Occupy Chicago protest. National Nurses United is asking supporters to call Mayor Emmanuel’s office at 312-744-5000 and demand they immediately drop all charges against the nurses and other protesters and stop the harassment and arrests of the nurses and others peacefully exercising their free speech rights. Apparently, they’re still in jail, actually holding general assemblies. And from what Greg Mitchell is reporting, there’s more : From Occupy Chicago: “They still haven’t released the nurses who were arrested last nigh(t).” You may recall the human chain around the medical tent. ” One of the holding cells with about 30 men had no working sink. Their requests were ignored for 5 to 6 hours….An epileptic girl needed her meds. We yelled for an hour before anyone came and then they ignored for another hour….We yelled for about sixteen hours to make a phonecall before they finally let some of us…This protester asked different police officers 86 times politely to make a phone call. Ignored all night….. “We were given no food until noon today after yelling for hours they gave us a bologna sandwich…..Most of those of us who were in jail were not even allowed a phone call even though we asked for one repeatedly…..Two of the people who did get a phonecall report that the bondsmen were playing videogames instead of working on our paperwork….None of the men were given toilet paper for the past twenty hours. ” Denying meds? Refusing to allow them their right to a phone call? No toilet paper? Funny, I don’t remember this kind of treatment of the armed tea party participants . Oh yeah, Rahm needs a call from you. It’s about time he remembers who he’s supposed to be working for.

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Will freelance reporter Natasha Lennard be reporting on Occupy Wall Street for the New York Times anytime soon? Lennard contributed some of the paper’s reporting earlier this month from OWS, most notably when writing about her arrest on the Brooklyn Bridge at nytimes.com. Her last filing appears to be October 8. Lennard, who has also reported for Politico and the left-wing Salon magazine, addressed a discussion of Occupy Wall Street at the feminist Bluestockings book store on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on October 14, filmed and promoted by the radical magazine Jacobin (note the guillotine), reported Lee Stranahan at Big Government on Sunday. (The full video is also available at Times Watch ). During the 1 hour-45 minute panel discussion, Lennard often tangled with the more blunt Jodi Davis, a

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Tunisia’s voters go to the polls in Arab spring’s first election – video

People queue to vote as candidates from 110 political parties and scores of independents bid to join Tunisia’s new 217-seat government Shehani Fernando Mona Mahmood

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Tunisia’s voters go to the polls in Arab spring’s first election – video

People queue to vote as candidates from 110 political parties and scores of independents bid to join Tunisia’s new 217-seat government Shehani Fernando Mona Mahmood

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Flood warnings issued for Devon, Cornwall, Wales and Yorkshire

Heavy rain, high winds and flash floods expected as agency issues alerts for south-west, Welsh rivers and Yorkshire coast South-west England and Wales have been warned of the risk of flash floods as heavy rain is driven in from the Atlantic by strong winds. The weather front has led to 14 flood alerts in Cornwall and Devon and one in Wales , as well as one covering a stretch of the Yorkshire coast at Bridlington where high tides and winds are expected to combine. The warnings end a brief mild spell after last week’s cold snap, although temperatures are not expected to fall significantly. Matt Dobson, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, said the main feature would be “persistent and heavy” rain. There was widespread flooding in Northern Ireland, with homes in south Belfast and Co Antrim damaged in the deluge. Cars had to be towed out of deep water on the Moira Road outside Belfast, and there was also heavy flooding in the Glenavy area. Oliver McMullan, who represents the East Antrim area, said the Cranny river had overflowed in the seaside village of Carnlough. The alerts posted by the Environment Agency for Cornwall and Devon affect the rivers Fal, Fowey, Helford, Looe, Lynher, Par, Plym, St Austell, Seaton, Tamar, Tavy, Torey brook, Walkham and Yealm as well as streams and small watercourses throughout south and west Cornwall. There is also an alert along the south Devon coast at Beesands, Torcross, Slapton and Dawlish. The Welsh alert covers streams in the catchments of the rivers Taf and Cynin and is expected to widen as the day goes on. The Yorkshire alert stretches from Barmston to Bridlington, with problems most likely around the resort’s north pier. The agency’s alerts describe the risk as low but warn that “there may be some flooding of properties and disruption to travel”, especially in Cornwall and Devon. The risk for the rest of the week is rated very low throughout the country, although the wet weather is forecast to move north. Dobson said: “There could be some local torrential bursts of rain but mostly it will just be very persistent rain. There could be over an inch of rain by the end of Monday.” The Met Office has also issued severe weather warnings for south-west England and the West Midlands, Wales and Northern Ireland. It said 30-60mm of rain were expected, with bands of torrential rain raising this to 100mm in some places. “Periods of heavy rain, accompanied at times by strong winds, will affect parts of western Britain during Monday,” a spokesman said. “The public should be aware that quantities of rain may be sufficient in a few places to disrupt travel and give rise to localised flooding. In Northern Ireland the heaviest rain is expected to arrive later in the day.” The rain will ease off during Tuesday but unsettled conditions are expected to persist all week and over the weekend, with ground frost in places across the country forecast for Friday night. Weather Northern Ireland Flooding Martin Wainwright Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk

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US pulls ambassador Robert Ford out of Syria over security concerns

Officials say Ford – who angered Syrian regime over his support for anti-Assad protesters – had been threatened with his life The US has withdrawn its ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, over fears for his safety after an intimidation campaign against him, American officials have said. They said there had been credible threats against his life and accused the Syrian government of failing to protect him and of being behind a campaign of incitement. Ford, who is back in Washington after leaving Damascus at the weekend, angered the Syrian government by aligning himself with anti-regime protesters. Defying a travel ban on diplomats travelling outside Damascus, Ford made high-profile visits to locations at the centre of opposition to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and spoke to leaders of the protests. His withdrawal adds to tensions between Damascus and Washington, which has called on on Assad to step down and to stop using violence against peaceful protesters. Speculation has grown since the death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi that Syria might be the next target for western intervention, though Obama administration officials have so far denied it. The state department stressed that Ford’s return did not amount to a formal breakdown in relations and that Ford’s deputy, Haynes Mahoney, would remain in Damascus and carry out Ford’s duties. Mark Toner, the US state department spokesman, accused Syria of incitement. “At this point, we can’t say when he [Ford] will return to Syria,” Toner said. He said it would depend on “our assessment of Syrian regime-led incitement and the security situation on the ground.” Toner continued: “Ambassador Ford was brought back to Washington as a result of credible threats against his personal safety. “We hope that the Syrian regime will end its incitement campaign against Ambassador Ford. [His] presence is a benefit to our mission in Syria, as he has worked diligently to deliver our message and be our eyes on the ground. This decision was based solely on the need to ensure his safety, a matter we take extremely seriously.” Relations between the US and Syria have been strained for decades and the Syrian government is branded by the US as a state sponsor of terrorism. Barack Obama, on becoming president in January 2009, made various peace overtures to Assad. Vice-president Joe Biden fuelled speculation over intervention in Syria by saying the military model used in Libya – which involved US air power in support of rebels on the ground backed by French and British special forces – could be used elsewhere. The US had recalled its ambassador to Syria in 2005 in protest at the alleged involvement of Damascus in the assassination of the Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri. Ford’s arrival in Damascus coincided with the US push to improve relations. But relations have worsened as Assad opted for a violent crackdown on protesters. Ford has established himself as outspoken in support of the demonstrators, and had been cheered when he visited Hama, the centre of the revolt, in the summer, which angered the Syrian government. Ford also went with other western ambassadors to pay respect to the family of a protest leader who died after allegedly being tortured. Last month, Ford’s convoy was targeted by pro-government protesters as he headed for a meeting with opposition leaders. An attempt was also made to break into the meeting. Ford has been repeatedly criticised by the state-run media. The decision to leave on Saturday came after the appearance of more articles critical of him. US foreign policy Syria Arab and Middle East unrest United States Protest Middle East Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk

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Les Hinton: I was right to say phone hacking was not rife

Former News International executive stands by his statement to parliament in 2009 despite having seen Clive Goodman letter Les Hinton, one of Rupert Murdoch’s key executives when phone hacking was taking place at the News of the World, has defended his decision to tell MPs two years ago there was no evidence the practice was rife. Appearing before the culture, media and sport select committee via satellite from the US, the former chairman of the News of the World’s UK parent News International said he had been right to tell parliament in 2009 that hacking was restricted to a single reporter. It has subsequently emerged that when Hinton gave that evidence, he had seen a letter sent in 2007 by the paper’s former royal editor Clive Goodman, which alleged hacking was widely discussed at the title during news meetings. “I don’t think I’d regard Mr Goodman’s letter as evidence of anything,” Hinton told MPs on Monday. “They were accusations and allegations.” Hinton insisted that the company “reacted very responsibly” to Goodman’s letter, which resulted in an enquiry by Harbottle & Lewis that found no evidence to support the reporter’s claims. Challenged about why he had told the same committee in September 2009 that NI had found nothing that indicated a “suspicion” of hacking – a phrasing that Paul Farrelly, the MP questioning Hinton, said should have encompassed the Goodman letter. In response, Hinton insisted his statement of two years ago had been “valid”. Hinton, who was executive chairman of NI until 2007, appeared to suggest he had not overseen two separate external investigations into the hacking allegations, by law firms Burton Copeland and Harbottle & Lewis, but had delegated them. He also repeatedly said he struggled to recollect events which happened up to four years ago. That prompted Labour MP Paul Farrelly to jokingly compare Hinton to a mushroom. “You seem to have been kept in the dark by a lot of people,” Farrelly said. • 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 . Les Hinton Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers James Robinson guardian.co.uk

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Israeli officer loses command, a month after death of protester

Action against officer in charge of army unit that killed Palestinian in Qusra was taken due to ‘a number of incidents’ The commander of an Israeli army unit whose soldiers shot dead a Palestinian protester just hours before president Mahmoud Abbas called on the United Nations to recognise a Palestinian state has been relieved of his post. The lieutenant in the Haruv battalion, who has not been named, had a history of disciplinary transgressions. The death of 34-year-old Essam Oudah in the West Bank village of Qusra was not thought to be the main factor in the action against him. “The officer was dismissed from his command due to a number of operational and disciplinary incidents,” an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) statement said. Oudeh was killed after Palestinian men rallied to protect the village from a feared incursion by nearby settlers. The village had formed a defence committee following the vandalising of one of Qusra’s mosques by settlers last month – an attack condemned by the US and European Union. On 23 September, the day Abbas submitted the Palestinians’ formal request to be admitted as a full state to the UN, warnings were broadcast from Qusra mosques that settlers were approaching. Hundreds of men and youths streamed to the edge of the village. The Guardian, which was present for the standoff between villagers and settlers, saw no stone throwing or physical confrontation from either side before the Israeli army began firing teargas at the Palestinians. Later that day, an IDF statement said a “mutual rock hurling incident … incited a violent riot, during which Palestinians hurled rocks at security personnel”. The army opened fire with live bullets, injuring three Palestinians, including Oudeh who subsequently died. The army launched an investigation. According to a report on the Israeli Ynet news website, the army inquiry concluded the incident was an “operational failure” and that the commander had made an error of judgment in ordering troops to open fire. The officer told investigators his team felt threatened and outnumbered, according to Ynet. The IDF declined to comment beyond a brief statement. The commander is to remain in the IDF, but not in a combat role. An Israeli settler and his infant son were killed on the same day after Palestinians threw rocks at their car near Hebron, causing it to overturn. Israel Palestinian territories Protest Middle East Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk

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Eurozone debt crisis: Eurozone lurches closer to recession

• Worse-than-expected eurozone data reignite recession fears • European markets extend gains on hopes EU leaders inch closer to a eurozone deal • Today’s agenda 7.33am: Good morning. Welcome back after a weekend that saw European leaders adopt a broad framework drafted by their finance ministers for recapitalising European banks. But final decisions were deferred until a second summit on Wednesday, amid differing views over the size of losses private holders of Greek government bonds will have to accept. Banks have offered to extend the voluntary “haircut” on Greek debt to 40% from the 21% agreed in July, but politicians are thought to be looking for writedowns of at least 50%. The other issue is the future shape of the EFSF, the eurozone bailout fund. It appears that leaders are moving towards a solution that would combine using the fund to provide partial guarantees to buyers of new Italian and Spanish bonds, while also creating a special purpose vehicle to attract funds from major emerging countries that could guarantee bonds in the secondary market. Markets in Asia climbed overnight, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng adding more than 4% and Japan’s Nikkei rising 1.9%. You can view more indices here . Financial spreadbetters expect Britain’s FTSE 100 index to open 41 to 62 points higher, or up to 1.1%. It closed over 100 points higher on Friday at 5488.65, a gain of nearly 2%. Germany’s Dax is seen climbing 44 to 68 points, or 1.1%, while France’s CAC is set to gain 22 to 35 points, also a 1.1% increase. Michael Hewson, market analyst at CMC Markets, said about Sunday’s summit: Greece remains the bone of contention for Europe’s leaders as they look to come to some form of agreement about the extent of haircuts for private creditors, after the Troika report indicated that bondholder losses would need to be in excess of the 21% agreed in July for Greece’s finances to return to a sustainable path. Bankers however are not in favour of haircuts in excess of 40% for fear it could well trigger a credit event, while IMF officials, along with other politicians believe that only haircuts in excess of 50% would be seen as credible, given the recent deterioration in the Greek economy. France is also uneasy with higher debt haircuts due to the vulnerability of its triple “A” credit rating, especially in light of ratings agency Standard and Poor’s warning on Friday, that its rating would be cut due to a worsening economic climate. 8.07am: The FTSE has edged up some 12 points to 5500, a 0.2% gain. Spreadbetters were expecting a stronger open. Stronger Chinese manufacturing data has lifted Brent crude oil to close to $111 a barrel. China’s factory output picked up in October, ending a three-month contraction, according to HSBC’s China Flash Purchasing Managers’ Index. Gold prices have gained 1% amid the more positive mood in markets. 8.11am: Here’s a list of today’s scheduled events (all times are UK local): • Stronger Chinese manufacturing data • Eurozone manufacturing and services PMI • Andy Haldane, Bank of England executive director of financial stability, gives Wincott lecture at 17.30 8.15am: The FTSE is up about 30 points now at 5518, a 0.5% increase. The Dax in Frankfurt and the CAC in Paris have risen between 0.6% and 0.7%. Some strategists warn the rally could be short-lived, though. Jeremy Batstone-Carr, strategist at Charles Stanley, said: I would still be looking to sell into this rally, rather than believe that ‘this time it’s different’ because it absolutely isn’t. How much longer is it going to take before they realise there is no solution to this [crisis] or at least not one that doesn’t involve a vast amount of money? 8.20am: This video of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy is all over the Italian frontpages today. At their big press conference on Sunday, they were asked what they thought of Italy’s commitment to reforms. You don’t even need to speak French to understand it… The pair, known as ” Merkozy,” held a series of face-to-face talks with the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to get him to stop the rot and get a grip on the country’s debts as EU leaders get more and more worried that the eurozone is close to slipping into another deep recession. 8.54am: Merkel handed Sarkozy a German Steiff teddy bear for his newborn daughter at the weekend summit and told him they had all suffered with the French as they were narrowly defeated by New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup final. And of course Merkozy had a good laugh together at the expense of the Italians. So how does their new chumminess compare with previous Franco-German leaders? Find out in David Gow’s sketch “Sarkozy talks of one voice – but it’s in German”. He argues that Merkozy is a myth. 9.02am: “If it weren’t so tragic, the current European crisis would be funny, in a gallows-humour sort of way,” writes Paul Krugman in his blog on the New York Times site. It has had him humming the old children’s song “There’s a Hole in My Bucket.” Read more here . 9.10am: The FTSE has climbed nearly 40 points to 5527. The miners are leading gains on the bluechip index, boosted by the pick-up in Chinese manufacturing. UK banks Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays are also among the top risers, encouraged by the progress made on recapitalisation plans at the weekend summit. French banking shares BNP Paribas and Société Générale along with Germany’s Commerzbank also rose. Markets are hopeful of a deal at the second EU summit on Wednesday, lifting the euro to a six-week high versus the dollar. 9.14am: Here are Evolution Securities’ head of fixed income Gary Jenkins’ latest musings on the debt crisis and how to solve it: In order to resolve the crises, or at least buy some time, the minimum that the EU needs to achieve is to restore investors’ confidence in Italian government bonds. If they can achieve that one aim then they will also go a long way to stabilising the banking sector. Put another way the recapitalisation of the banks in isolation will be a pointless exercise if the market is unwilling to buy Italian debt. Lending is of course all about confidence and that is clearly lacking when it comes to Italy at the moment. It appears that the idea of creating unlimited firepower by converting the EFSF into a bank that could obtain credit from the ECB is no longer on the agenda. The problem then is that the self-imposed limit of €440bn of the EFSF is not sufficient for this stage of the crisis when it is required to lend to Ireland, Portugal and Greece, potentially provide capital to banks and to support the Italian and Spanish government bond markets. Thus it appears that the only EU directly controlled option left on the table is somehow making the EFSF “more efficient” via using it as a guarantor of debt rather than a direct lender. In theory this makes the little that is left in the EFSF go a long way as if for example they guarantee 20% of bonds on a first loss basis then it is equivalent to 5x leverage. I don’t think that this is really leveraging the fund, but the idea is that it will encourage bondholders to provide finance to Italy. The only way to test whether this would actually work is to implement it and then analyse the results of the Italian auctions. My own problem with the EFSF as a guarantor is that I was always taught that you should analyse the guarantor as if they were the principle and indeed you should try and ascertain the probability of the guarantor being able and willing to pay you at a time when the principle has failed to pay. I find it difficult to believe that under a scenario where a country such as Italy which has the 3rd largest bond market in the world has just gone bust that the EFSF would be able or indeed willing to pay bondholders. If I am wrong on that point it might still be the case that under this scenario the first loss only covers a portion of the required write down for bondholders. What I think is however irrelevant. If investors view the guarantee as part of a commitment from the EU to ensure that no other Eurozone sovereign defaults, or if they think that the EFSF would pay up, then they might be encouraged to buy Italian bonds. 9.21am: The eurozone’s private sector tipped further into decline this month, exacerbating fears that the area is about to lurch back into recession, according to business surveys. The October services PMI fell to 47.2 from 48.8 in September. The manufacturing index also worsened, to 47.3 from 48.5. Both were the lowest readings since July 2009 and worse than economists had expected. The composite PMI, which combines data from both sectors, dropped to 47.2 from 49.1 in September, also the weakest reading since July 2009. Markit, which compiles the surveys, warned that the worst was yet to come. 9.30am: Here is some instant reaction to the poor eurozone numbers. Peter Vanden Houte, chief economist at ING Financial Markets, described the survey as a “miserable report highlighting the fact that the eurozone is falling into recession again”. Commerzbank economist Peter Dixon concurred, saying: We are heading towards a recession. This is the third month in a row that the manufacturing index is below 50. It tells us the economy is in some difficulty so we might be heading into a mild recession in the next six months [with] at least one quarter of contraction. 9.54am: Paul Donovan of UBS has launched his latest podcast . His verdict on the weekend’s talks: The 13th Eurozone crisis summit has not yet produced details (how many summits before the crisis loses its sense of crisis?). Sarkozy and Merkel had a “conversation amongst friends” with Berlusconi, and then left an economic horse’s head in his bed (a ‘reform or else’ warning, basically). 10.31am: The FT’s Wolfgang Münchau reckons Europe is now leveraging for a catastrophe. Read the full article here . It is time to prepare for the unthinkable: there is now a significant probability the euro will not survive in its current form. This is not because I am predicting the failure by European leaders to agree a deal. In fact, I believe they will. My concern is not about failure to agree, but the consequences of an agreement. 10.58am: China has told the EU to get a move on. Its foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said: We hope that the EU countries concerned will reach a comprehensive settlement plan as soon as possible and adopt effective measures to ease the euro debt crisis and prevent the crisis from spreading further. China is confident that the EU has the ability and wisdom to overcome these straits. We have always provided what help we can to the countries concerned via bilateral and multilateral channels. 11.09am: Our man in Brussels, David Gow, has just sent this over. The rise and rise of Herman Van Rompuy is a wondrous sight. At his final news conference last night, around 2230CET, he continued to look like an impeccably-dressed Mr Pastry, exuding calm, eyebrows raised, quizzical smile fixed on his face. Beside him, José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, looked a diminished, almost crumpled figure. Van Rompuy is now not only president of the European Council (EU-27 leaders) but of the eurozone too (the 17 ‘ins’). Ridiculed in some parts of the UK media, he is blessed with a formidable intellect and political shrewdness combined with a waspish sense of humour. So, he was asked, what happens if all these countries – cue Italy – fail to live up to their promises to get their debt and budgets in order. “They will meet the commitments,” he smiled. “All member states need to give clear signals of their commitments. This is understood by everybody.” Does that mean only Italy? Smile. What about Belgium (his home country)? Do they need to carry out further reforms, fiscal consolidation etc? “No, no, the Belgians have just formed a government after 18 months without one. That’s a big enough achievement.” Huge grins and laughter among the news-free zone kn own as the Brussels press corps. Even Sarko likes him – and laughs at his jokes. Meanwhile, the barbed-wire barriers – festooned with a few chrysanths – and the rest of the “security cordon” have simply been pushed to the side in view of Wednesday’s second round of summitry. Even the satellite transmission vans are still parked at the side of the Justus Lipsius building across the street where the EU leaders meet. One UK official thinks they should just stay in permanent session until they cut a deal. My solution to the crisis is for the 800 accredited journos to ignore them and write the same pooled dispatch every day – that’ll force them to come up with some breaking news, if not a breakthrough. 11.39am: Silvio Berlusconi has summoned his cabinet for an emergency meeting after being urged by Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy to stop the rot at home. The Italian prime minister is trying to push through reforms to the pension system, including raising the pension age to 67 from 65, but faces resistance from his coalition partners in the Northern League. 11.43am: Closer to home, David Cameron faces the biggest rebellion of his premiership over Europe. Dozens of Tories are set to back calls for a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union. William Hague, the foreign secretary, has told backbench Eurosceptics that Monday’s Commons vote on pulling out of Europe “is the wrong question at the wrong time”. Some 78 MPs, many of them Conservatives, have signed a parliamentary motion calling for a referendum on whether Britain should leave the EU or renegotiate the terms of its membership. Although the vote looks set to fail, it will test Cameron’s authority. It comes a day after his spat with Sarkozy, who told him at the EU summit that he was “sick of you criticising us and telling us what to do”. 12.00pm: European markets have just turned negative. Spain’s Ibex has edged down 0.1%, Italy’s FTSE MIB has tumbled 1% and Portugal’s PSI 1.3%. The FTSE is down 0.8 points at 5487. 12.07pm: Louise Cooper, markets analyst at BGC Partners, has looked at the prospects for Italian reform. How keen will Ms Merkel be to help Italy given that she has personally been the butt of many of Berlusconi’s “jokes” for years. Only last month it was widely reported that he called her an “un****able lard arse’ and back in April 2009, he kept Merkel waiting on the tarmac for 15mins on his arrival at the NATO summit while he took a phone call. I wonder if her regrets such rudeness now given that Germany holds the purse strings should his country need more help? And make no mistake, the elephant in the room is Italy. There may a lot of comment and attention on Greece, the banks and the EFSF, but what really is causing sleepless nights is Italy. It has the third largest debt market in the world, well over €1trn of outstanding debt, and is too big to have concerns about credit quality. And so Merkel and Sarkozy are pressurising Berlusconi to institute structural reform. And Berlusconi’s response? To blame “bad press” and an “anti-Italy faction” within the country. this a man taking the problems seriously? I think not. Italy has failed to reform its economy for decades, preferring instead virtually no growth for 10 years. Berlusconi, like the majority of 75 year old men, is highly unlikely to change and start becoming a zealous reformer. 12.38pm: While everyone is trying to guess how much extra capital European banks will need, Bank of France governor Christian Noyer has helpfully provided some guidance. He said French banks would need less than €10bn to raise their core capital ratio to levels agreed by EU finance ministers at the weekend. He added that French banks, which are heavily exposed to Greek debt, could raise their capital levels without needing an injection of state funds. 1.10pm: There will be a full German parliamentary session to vote on a proposal to leverage the EFSF, Reuters is reporting. It had been thought that only the budget committee would vote on the proposal, but it now seems that Germany’s lower house of parliament will vote on the issue. 1.20pm: Stock markets around Europe have been yo-yoing around this morning – but within a pretty tight range. One set of equity investors were sitting on some big losses today however – those with stakes in Greek banks. The suggestion that the private sector could increase its haircut on Greek debt from 21% to 40% has, perhaps not surprisingly, knocked the big holders of that debt – the Greek financial institutions. The Athens banking index is down 15% on the day. Attica Bank is almost 22% down, and Eurobank is down 19.5%. 2.27pm: More from David Gow in Brussels: It’s not only Sarko who has been laying into David Cameron. A high-ranking EU official I’ve known for several years has just joined in the “make your mind up time: either you’re in or you’re out” political onslaught on the Brits who are seriously pissing off a lot of people in Europe. This official said, with an anger I’d never seen before: “We’ve all had enough now of being told off by the UK. We thought Tony Blair would have sorted this relationship out once and for all when he took office or, at least, in 2005 when Britain held the EU presidency. But no, he didn’t, and now it’s getting worse and worse.” What bemuses people in Brussels is that eurosceptics in the UK are constantly complaining that the EU stifles growth (through over-regulation etc). Britain’s net contribution to the EU budget is running at around €2bn a year (compared with €6bn each for France and Germany). But the government’s own figures (BIS) show that the single market generates for the UK economy between £30bn and £90bn – or, roughly, 15 to 50 times what the British taxpayer contributes. It is estimated that completion of the single market – a key demand of Gordon Brown as well as Cameron – would add 7% to UK GDP. Cameron conceded on Sunday night, too, that 40% of UK exports go to the eurozone. So the EU plays a big part in ensuring British growth and jobs. That’s the message from Brussels. But, as usual, is anyone across the Channel listening? 2.52pm: Angela Merkel put the size of a Greek haircut for private creditors between 50% and 60%, according to the German Green party’s Jürgen Trittin, when she briefed him and other parliamentary group leaders on the progress made at Sunday’s EU summit. Asked whether Merkel had specified a size for the proposed writedown for private holders of Greek government bonds, Trittin, the floor leader for the Greens, said: “above 50 and below 60[%]“. 3.15pm: It’s good-bye from me, Julia Kollewe. My colleague Alex Hawkes is taking over now. 3.38pm: George Soros, the currency speculator who made huge sums shorting the pound during the Black Wednesday crisis in 1992, has offered a seven-point plan to save the euro on the FT’s website. You can read it here . 3.51pm: Markets around Europe have been boosted by a confident start on Wall Street . We’re now almost 50 points up on the FTSE 100, a 0.9% climb. The French CAC is up 1.6% and the DAX has risen by almost 1.5%. 4.51pm: The FTSE 100 has closed the day up 59 points, a rise of 1.1%. France’s CAC is up 1.6% and the DAX has closed up 1.4%. And with that (perhaps surprising) lift in stocks we are also done for the day. Thanks for joining us and thanks for all your comments – do join us tomorrow as we inch closer to some kind of eurozone deal. European debt crisis Julia Kollewe Alex Hawkes guardian.co.uk

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Police appeal over burnt man death

Detectives play down speculation of homophobic attack after Stuart Walker’s scorched body found on roadside in Ayrshire Police in Ayrshire are appealing for help in piecing together the final hours of a man whose burnt body was found on an industrial estate at the weekend, amid speculation in the local community that he may have been the victim of a homophobic attack. Stuart Walker, 28, of Cumnock in East Ayrshire, was found dead on Saturday morning by the side of a road in the town’s Caponacre industrial estate with “horrible injuries”. Walker had been out with friends in the former mining community on Friday night and was last seen by a family friend at about 2.30am on Saturday. His scorched body was found by the side of the road shortly before 5am. Strathclyde police said they were looking at all aspects of Walker’s life as they tried to establish why he was killed, but have played down fears that he may have been the victim of a homophobic attack. Police have said reports that he had been tied to a lamppost were incorrect. Detectives are checking CCTV footage and making door-to-door inquiries in an effort to trace Walker’s last movements. Detective Inspector John Hogg said: “It is imperative that we find out where he was between 2.30am and 4.50am, who he was with and why this happened to him. From our inquiries so far, we understand that there may have been a number of house parties in the nearby Netherthird housing estate in the early hours of the morning. At this time we do not know if these parties are linked to our investigation or not, so, again, any information on that is important.” The local MSP, Adam Ingram, said Walker was a well-known and well-liked young man within the community and the town was in shock at his murder. “Like the rest of the community I’m shocked and horrified at such a brutal and senseless murder on a young man who was very popular and well-liked within the community,” he said. “I just can’t understand how something like this could happen in such a close-knit community. Stuart was well known and I can’t understand why or how people could behave like this and perpetrate such an evil act on a young person. “Cumnock is the heart of the former coalfields community, who are renowned for being community-minded and for the close connections, so everyone knows everyone else – so it’s a really terrible shock that something like this could happen.” Ingam added: “Obviously there has been speculation that there was a homophobic element to this but the police certainly at this stage are not suggesting that that is the case.” A Facebook page set up in Walker’s memory has attracted hundreds of tributes. Karen Torbet, from Cumnock, wrote: “Well, sweetheart, I hope you are at peace. Can’t get that smiley face of yours out of my mind. You never passed without saying hello and I don’t think I have ever seen you with a grumpy face ever. My heart goes out to your family at this sad and very hard time.” Colin Macfarlane, director of Stonewall Scotland, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender support group, said it was important to wait until all the facts had been established in the case and appealed for anyone with information about Walker’s killing to contact the police. Macfarlane said that in the past five years there had been a five-fold increase in hate crimes against LGBT people in Scotland. While some of the increase may be attributable to new legislation identifying homophobic attacks as a hate crime, intimidation and violence was still a reality for many LGBT people, he said. “Every day people are targeted simply because of who they are and while some report this to the police many do not,” said Macfarlane. “We pride ourselves in thinking we’re a forward-thinking and tolerant nation but these figures clearly show that for many LGBT people this vision isn’t a reality.” Scotland Crime Kirsty Scott guardian.co.uk

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