High court extends injunction to stop evictions by Basildon council at illegal Travellers’ site in Essex Residents have won another temporary reprieve in their long-running battle to stay on the UK’s biggest illegal Travellers’ site. A judge in the high court ruled on Monday that residents of Dale Farm near Basildon in Essex were entitled to an extension of an injunction to stop their evictions until the courts have ruled on the legality of their proposed removal. The ruling was a blow to Basildon council, which is facing additional legal action that could prolong its 10-year battle to clear the site, expected to cost £18m. Travellers have more litigation in the pipeline which could further delay evictions. They plan to seek a judicial review on the grounds that eviction is “disproportionate” under human rights laws. On Sunday night the Travellers’ supporters called on council representatives to “return to the negotiating table”, saying that continuing the action will only see costs spiral even further out of control. The campaign group Dale Farm Solidarity (DFS) said several high-profile figures had offered to mediate, including bishops Thomas McMahon and Stephen Cottrell, UN representatives and the local MEP Richard Howitt. Kate O’Shea, from DFS, said: “We call on Tony Ball [the council leader] to return to the negotiation table. “The situation at Dale Farm needs a sensible and common sense approach and we urge all parties to use this pause to find an amicable solution. “The UN and two local bishops have offered to mediate any talks should this be required, and we urge Tony Ball to accept their offer.” The Gypsy Council echoed the calls, saying it had become clear during Friday’s hearing that the site would not necessarily be returned to open countryside even if the eviction went ahead. In a statement it said: “Pursuing this eviction would be a bad thing for both sides.” Dale Farm Roma, Gypsies and Travellers guardian.co.uk
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Shadow chancellor proposes help for homeowners and small businesses and repeat of bankers’ bonus tax – using the money to guarantee 100,000 jobs and build 25,000 homes Follow all the latest developments on our Labour conference live blog The shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, has set out a five-point growth package including slashing VAT to 5% for home improvements and a one-year small firms national insurance tax holiday for taking on extra workers. He also reaffirmed previous proposals to reverse January’s VAT rise from 17.5% to 20% and promised a repeat of this year’s bankers’ bonus tax, using the money to guarantee 100,000 jobs for young people and building 25,000 affordable homes. He also said the government should bring forward genuine long-term investment projects covering schools roads and transports, but did not put a figure on this. There was no costing for his overall proposals but his aides said the targeted VAT cut for the housing industry would cost between £100m and £500m, adding similar targeted VAT cuts were being tried in France. The national insurance holiday for small business taking on extra staff would be funded from money left over from the government’s failed national insurance rebate fund. Ministers had originally set aside £1bn for this fund. Balls in interviews afterwards said he could not specify how much extra spending he was proposing over the government’s spending plans. He also made a series of admissions about Labour mistakes in government and promised he would set up tough fiscal rules monitored by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBS). He also admitted he could not promise to reverse every Tory spending cut. In a shift of tone, reflecting Labour’s current low credibility on the economy, he said: “No matter how much we dislike particular Tory sending cuts or tax rises we cannot make promises now to reverse them.” He added: “I won’t do that and neither will any of my shadow cabinet colleagues.” He added: “We still know today what we recognised 17 years ago, we will never have the credibility unless we have the discipline and strength to take tough decisions.” He said he “always knew that a reputation for credibility and a platform for stability were the essential preconditions for achieving [Labour's] goals”. He promised discipline in pay, adding: “We cannot duck difficult decisions on pensions,” and that under Labour contributions and the retirement age would be rising too. But the bulk of his speech was an attack on the Conservative-led coalition for continuing to cut at a time when unemployment was rising and growth faltering. Plan A was not working, he said. Balls ridiculed the idea that Britain was a safe haven and said he did not believe there was any risk of retribution from the fund markets if the government spent more. But he added he did not know what the debt levels will have reached by the end of November when growth figures are published. Underling the scale of the crisis the shadow chancellor said: “These are the darkest, most dangerous times for the global economy in my lifetime. Our country – the whole of the world – is facing a threat that most of us only have ever read about in the history books – a lost decade of economic stagnation.” He said: “This is not a crisis of debt as the government claims, which can be solved country by country, by austerity, cuts and retrenchment, but truly a global growth crisis which is deepening and becoming more dangerous by the day.” He said: “The world must learn the lessons of the 30s. There is no credibility [in] piling austerity on austerity, tax rise on tax rise, cut upon cut in the eventual hope that it will work when the evidence is pointing the other way.” He claimed Labour had shown discipline in office and rejected suggestions that Gordon Brown’s Treasury had spent too heavily in advance of the banking crash in 2008. Balls said: “Don’t let anyone tell you that a Labour government was profligate with public money. When we went into the crisis with lower national debt than we inherited in 1997, and lower than America, France, Germany and Japan. Don’t let anyone say it was the public spending on public services here in Britain which caused the global financial crisis.” But he added: “We did not get everything right, we made mistakes”. The list of Labour errors offered by Balls included “the 75p pension rise, we did not do enough to get all employers to train, we should have adopted tougher controls on migration from eastern Europe, we did not spend every pound of public money well. And yes we did not regulate the banks toughly enough and stop their gross irresponsibility.” All these apologies have been made before either by Tony Blair, Brown or Balls himself. Blair apologised for the 75p pension rise a decade ago. John Cridland, the CBI director general, said: “Labour has form spending money it does not really have.” He questioned whether the five-point plan was affordable, adding the reversal of the VAT rise could cost billions. But he welcomed proposals to help the young unemployed. Labour conference 2011 Ed Balls Economic policy Tax and spending Labour Labour conference Economic growth (GDP) Economics Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Shuster Slams Megyn Kelly for Asking if Obama Is a ‘Socialist’ During Debate
September 26, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Current TV guest host David Shuster Sunday ripped the Fox News hosts who moderated last week’s Republican presidential debate. Shuster, who formerly worked for Fox News and MSNBC, told CNN’s Howard Kurtz that Chris Wallace, Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier did ask a few tough questions, “but there were also some questions, Howard, that were, frankly, incredibly silly and stupid.” “For Megyn Kelly to suggest — for her to ask Mitt Romney, ‘Oh, are you going to call President Obama a socialist too?’ or for Bret Baier to say, “Wait a second, you know, how are you going to turn this country around? Candidate, you have 30 seconds.’ I mean, it is not that simple.” He added: “If you’re going to have journalists as moderators, at least pick people who have experience covering politics. Brit Hume, Carl Cameron, there are folks at Fox News who bring a certain level of sophistication to their understanding of politics. And I think when Fox News goes to the Megyn Kellys, the Bret Baiers, people who don’t have much experience, who haven’t covered campaigns, the result is sometimes you have inane questions that come out and, frankly, waste everybody’s time.”
Continue reading …Media Mash: CNN’s Romans Pushes ‘Buffett Rule’; There’s No Appeasing Chris Matthews
September 26, 2011 No Comment“Greece has got a 45 percent income tax, a 23 percent value-added tax on top of that, so Greece should be in fine shape according to this economic theory,” NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Fox News's Sean Hannity on Friday, reacting to a clip of CNN's Christine Romans insisting that “serious economists” all agree that taxes must be raised on America's highest income earners. “This is a press release by the Obama campaign,” Bozell complained, adding that “cutting the size of government… capping spending” and “cutting the deficit” are options that are “off the table, not just with Obama, but with CNN.” [See video after page break] Also discussed on Friday's “Media Mash” segment was how MSNBC's Chris Matthews insisted that Texas Gov. Rick Perry accused President Obama of “pro-Nazi behavior” because he argued that Obama had “appeased the Arab Street at the expense of our own national security interests.” “Sean, somebody medicate this man quick,” an amused Bozell quipped, noting that Matthews himself has used the word “appeased” in domestic political stories: BOZELL: Who said in July, “Will John Boehner try to appease the Tea Party?” and who said last December, “Will Barack Obama try to appease the angry Left?” HANNITY: Chris Matthews. BOZELL: Chris Matthews. There ya go.
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Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer say they ‘lived in world of lies and false hope’ during the 781 days they spent in detention Two American hikers detained in Iran for more than two years have described the anguish of being denied contact with their families or news about their case, saying they “lived in a world of lies and false hope”. Addressing reporters in New York shortly after arriving in the US following their release from prison last week , Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer, both 29, said they were hugely happy to be free but felt no sense of gratitude towards authorities in Tehran. “We want to be clear: they do not deserve undue credit for ending what they had no right and no justification to start in the first place,” Fattal said. “From the very start, the only reason we have been held hostage is because we are American.” The pair were seized along with fellow American Sarah Shourd in July 2009 by Iranian guards while they were hiking in Iraq’s Kurdish region, near an unmarked border with Iran. Fattal and Bauer were convicted of spying last month . Shourd, who became engaged to Bauer during their detention, was released separately last year. The men, standing with Shourd, 31, on Sunday, said they went on repeated hunger strikes to pressure authorities into passing them the daily letters written by their families. Eventually they were told their relatives had stopped writing. The last direct contact the pair had came in May 2010, when their mothers were allowed a brief visit to Tehran, and for the most part the men were held in near isolation. Fattal said: “Solitary confinement was the worst experience of all of our lives. We lived in a world of lies and false hope.” He added: “Many times, too many times, we heard the screams of other prisoners being beaten and there was nothing we could do to help them.” He and Bauer were reunited with their families, and Shourd, in Oman on Wednesday. Relatives said the men described trying to keep fit by lifting water bottles and ripping cloth from blindfolds to keep their sandals on their feet, so they could run. Before Shourd was repatriated she and Bauer forged a romance during the maximum of an hour a day they were permitted to be together. He proposed to her, creating a makeshift engagement ring using threads taken from his shirt. She told reporters: “Shane and Josh and I are beginning our lives again, and there are so many new joys that await us. I’ve never felt as free as I feel today.” The couple had, as yet, made no wedding plans, she added. Fattal and Bauer, who took turns reading parts of a prepared statement and did not take questions, said they would never know if they had even crossed the border into Iran, but if they had done so it was entirely accidental. The three hikers, Bauer said, “oppose the US policies towards Iran which perpetuate this hostility”. After 781 days in detention, the men had been given no clue their release was imminent, Fattal said, describing how he and Bauer had expected to be returned to their cells as usual after their brief daily outdoor exercise. Instead, they were given civilian clothes and taken to another part of the prison where an Omani diplomat told them: “Let’s go home.” Within hours they were being flown to Oman. The release, styled by Iran as a gesture of clemency, involved a $1m (£640,000) bail payment. The men’s families say they do not know who paid this. Some speculation suggests Oman could have done so. Shourd was released after a similar payment was made. Iran Middle East United States Oman US foreign policy Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Now that the videos have gone viral, the NYPD has come up with a rationale for why they used pepper spray on a group of young protesters for no apparent reason: As the police arrested a protester in the street, an officer wearing a white shirt — indicating a rank of lieutenant or above — walked toward a group of demonstrators nearby and sent a blast of pepper spray that hit four women , the videos show. Numerous videos and photos captured the aftermath: two women crumpled on the sidewalk in pain, one of them screaming. They were temporarily blinded, one of the women, Chelsea Elliott, said. Ms. Elliott, 25, who was not arrested, acknowledged that “there were some rough people out there” at the protests. She and the other women were penned in behind police netting meant for crowd control. But, she said, neither she nor the women around her did anything to warrant having pepper spray used on them. “Out of all the people they chose to spray, it was just me and three other girls,” she said Sunday in a telephone interview. “I’m not pushing against anybody, or trying to escape.” The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said the police had used the pepper spray “appropriately.” “Pepper spray was used once,” he added, “after individuals confronted officers and tried to prevent them from deploying a mesh barrier — something that was edited out or otherwise not captured in the video.” Notice the careful wording: “Confronted officers and tried to prevent them from deploying a mesh barrier.” Sounds like they’re saying these women simply expressed their opinion. Guess we’ll have to wait for the lawyers to figure this one out! Ms. Elliott was one of several protesters on East 12th Street who had been corralled behind the plastic netting, which was being held by a line of police officers. Ms. Elliott said she spent part of the time trying to engage the police officer nearest her in a conversation about pensions. “I’m just trying to converse with them in a civilized manner, and tell them I’m a civilized human being,” Ms. Elliott said. She remembered saying, “Stop! Why are you doing this?” in response to an arrest not far away, but doing nothing else to attract attention. “A cop in a white shirt — I think he’s a superior officer — just comes along and does these quick little spritzes of pepper spray in my and these three other girls’ eyes,” she added. The officer’s identity was not provided by the police. The scene around Ms. Elliott verged on the unruly on Saturday. The police made arrests in the area on charges not only of disorderly conduct and impeding traffic, but also of inciting to riot and assaulting a police officer. About 80 people were arrested; some spent the night in jail and were arraigned on Sunday. Patrick Bruner, a spokesman for the protesters, said he believed that pepper spray was used several times on Saturday. “I think it is very fair to call it police brutality,” he said. The Police Department rarely uses pepper spray as a means of crowd control. Although the police used it during a large-scale antiwar protest in 2003, it was not used with much frequency during the protests associated with the Republican National Convention in New York in 2004, although they were some of the largest demonstrations in the city in years. “We don’t use it indiscriminately like other cities do,” said Thomas Graham, a retired deputy chief who until last year commanded the department’s Disorder Control Unit. “You’re not just spraying indiscriminately into a crowd.” Police officers, he said, “have the choice between spraying the guy or struggling with the guy with the night stick,” he said, adding, “Get poked with a nightstick good and hard and you might have a cracked rib from that.” Got that? For the crime of saying “stop, why are you doing this?”, they’re lucky it was “only” pepper spray — and not a cracked rib.
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Nepalese monastery is enjoying a surge in popularity after spiritual leader introduces martial arts classes A Buddhist monastery near Kathmandu is enjoying a surge in popularity after its spiritual leader directed its 300 nuns to use martial arts techniques. Enrolment is rising and Buddhist nuns as far afield as the Himachal Pradesh in India want to become kung fu instructors. The Druk Gawa Khilwa (DGK) nunnery near the Nepalese capital teaches its nuns a mixture of martial arts and meditation as a means of empowering the young women. In Buddhism, like many religions, the voices of women have traditionally been muted. But the leader of the 800-year-old Drukpa – or Dragon – order, to which DGK belongs, is determined to change all that. “As a young boy growing up in India and Tibet I observed the pitiful condition in which nuns lived,” says His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa, the spiritual head of the Drukpas. “They were considered second-class while all the privileges went to monks. I wanted to change this.” Although nuns have usually carried out only household chores in Buddhist monasteries, the nuns of DGK, who come from places as far apart as Assam, Tibet and Kashmir, are taught to lead prayers and given basic business skills. Nuns run the guest house and coffee shop at the abbey and drive DGK’s 4X4s to Kathmandu to get supplies. But for many, the breakthrough was the introduction of kung fu three years ago, shortly after the Gyalwang Drukpa visited Vietnam and observed female martial arts practitioners there. “Spiritual and physical wellbeing are equally important for our nuns,” says the leader. Sister Karuna, a soft-spoken young nun from Ladakh in the north of India, says kung fu has given the nuns self confidence and also helps in meditation. “We love kung fu,” said Karuna, as she prepared to swap her maroon prayer robe for a martial arts suit with a bright yellow sash. “Now we know we can defend ourselves. We also have the fitness for long spells of meditation.” Jigme Thubtem Palmo, 32, who left her family and a career as a police officer in Kashmir six years ago to join the monastery, says young women in the region are now more interested in becoming nuns than before. “We will soon build facilities for 500 nuns,” she said. The shaven-headed DGK nuns recently stunned an audience with a colourful martial arts display at the third annual Drukpa council summit held in Ladakh. Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, a former librarian at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, says she will introduce kung fu at the nunnery she has set up in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. “It’s excellent exercise, good for discipline, concentration and self-confidence,” says Palmo. “Also, when any young men in the area know nuns are kung fu experts, they stay away.” Nepal Buddhism Religion guardian.co.uk
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Nepalese monastery is enjoying a surge in popularity after spiritual leader introduces martial arts classes A Buddhist monastery near Kathmandu is enjoying a surge in popularity after its spiritual leader directed its 300 nuns to use martial arts techniques. Enrolment is rising and Buddhist nuns as far afield as the Himachal Pradesh in India want to become kung fu instructors. The Druk Gawa Khilwa (DGK) nunnery near the Nepalese capital teaches its nuns a mixture of martial arts and meditation as a means of empowering the young women. In Buddhism, like many religions, the voices of women have traditionally been muted. But the leader of the 800-year-old Drukpa – or Dragon – order, to which DGK belongs, is determined to change all that. “As a young boy growing up in India and Tibet I observed the pitiful condition in which nuns lived,” says His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa, the spiritual head of the Drukpas. “They were considered second-class while all the privileges went to monks. I wanted to change this.” Although nuns have usually carried out only household chores in Buddhist monasteries, the nuns of DGK, who come from places as far apart as Assam, Tibet and Kashmir, are taught to lead prayers and given basic business skills. Nuns run the guest house and coffee shop at the abbey and drive DGK’s 4X4s to Kathmandu to get supplies. But for many, the breakthrough was the introduction of kung fu three years ago, shortly after the Gyalwang Drukpa visited Vietnam and observed female martial arts practitioners there. “Spiritual and physical wellbeing are equally important for our nuns,” says the leader. Sister Karuna, a soft-spoken young nun from Ladakh in the north of India, says kung fu has given the nuns self confidence and also helps in meditation. “We love kung fu,” said Karuna, as she prepared to swap her maroon prayer robe for a martial arts suit with a bright yellow sash. “Now we know we can defend ourselves. We also have the fitness for long spells of meditation.” Jigme Thubtem Palmo, 32, who left her family and a career as a police officer in Kashmir six years ago to join the monastery, says young women in the region are now more interested in becoming nuns than before. “We will soon build facilities for 500 nuns,” she said. The shaven-headed DGK nuns recently stunned an audience with a colourful martial arts display at the third annual Drukpa council summit held in Ladakh. Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, a former librarian at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, says she will introduce kung fu at the nunnery she has set up in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. “It’s excellent exercise, good for discipline, concentration and self-confidence,” says Palmo. “Also, when any young men in the area know nuns are kung fu experts, they stay away.” Nepal Buddhism Religion guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Nepalese monastery is enjoying a surge in popularity after spiritual leader introduces martial arts classes A Buddhist monastery near Kathmandu is enjoying a surge in popularity after its spiritual leader directed its 300 nuns to use martial arts techniques. Enrolment is rising and Buddhist nuns as far afield as the Himachal Pradesh in India want to become kung fu instructors. The Druk Gawa Khilwa (DGK) nunnery near the Nepalese capital teaches its nuns a mixture of martial arts and meditation as a means of empowering the young women. In Buddhism, like many religions, the voices of women have traditionally been muted. But the leader of the 800-year-old Drukpa – or Dragon – order, to which DGK belongs, is determined to change all that. “As a young boy growing up in India and Tibet I observed the pitiful condition in which nuns lived,” says His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa, the spiritual head of the Drukpas. “They were considered second-class while all the privileges went to monks. I wanted to change this.” Although nuns have usually carried out only household chores in Buddhist monasteries, the nuns of DGK, who come from places as far apart as Assam, Tibet and Kashmir, are taught to lead prayers and given basic business skills. Nuns run the guest house and coffee shop at the abbey and drive DGK’s 4X4s to Kathmandu to get supplies. But for many, the breakthrough was the introduction of kung fu three years ago, shortly after the Gyalwang Drukpa visited Vietnam and observed female martial arts practitioners there. “Spiritual and physical wellbeing are equally important for our nuns,” says the leader. Sister Karuna, a soft-spoken young nun from Ladakh in the north of India, says kung fu has given the nuns self confidence and also helps in meditation. “We love kung fu,” said Karuna, as she prepared to swap her maroon prayer robe for a martial arts suit with a bright yellow sash. “Now we know we can defend ourselves. We also have the fitness for long spells of meditation.” Jigme Thubtem Palmo, 32, who left her family and a career as a police officer in Kashmir six years ago to join the monastery, says young women in the region are now more interested in becoming nuns than before. “We will soon build facilities for 500 nuns,” she said. The shaven-headed DGK nuns recently stunned an audience with a colourful martial arts display at the third annual Drukpa council summit held in Ladakh. Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, a former librarian at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, says she will introduce kung fu at the nunnery she has set up in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. “It’s excellent exercise, good for discipline, concentration and self-confidence,” says Palmo. “Also, when any young men in the area know nuns are kung fu experts, they stay away.” Nepal Buddhism Religion guardian.co.uk
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Italian court hears 24-year-old is a ‘double soul’ as she appeals against conviction for murdering British student Meredith Kercher Amanda Knox is an “enchanting witch”, a woman with a “double soul” – part angel, part devil – her appeal hearing has been told by a lawyer representing the man Knox first accused of murdering Meredith Kercher. “Who is Amanda Knox?” Carlo Pacelli asked the judges and jury in a final address before the verdict, which is expected early next week. “Is she the mild, sweet young woman with no makeup you see before you today? Or is she, in fact, the one I have described and who emerges from the court papers on the basis of eyewitness portraits, given over to lust, narcotic substances and the consumption of alcohol?” The 24-year-old Knox, Pacelli said, was “the one and the other. In her, there is a double soul: the good, angelic, compassionate one … tender and ingenuous, and the Lucifer-like, demonic, satanic, diabolic one that at times wanted to live out borderline, extreme actions and dissolute behaviour.” The latter, he said, was the Amanda of the night in 2007 on which the British student Kercher was murdered in the hilltop city of Perugia. Pacelli was speaking on behalf of a Congolese barman, Patrick Lumumba, named by Knox as the killer in a controversial statement she made to police four days after Kercher’s body was discovered. Lumumba made himself a party to the case, as is permitted under Italian law, and his presence at the trial and appeal has had an important bearing on both. Knox subsequently withdrew the statement, which was signed at the end of an all-night interrogation without the presence of a lawyer or consular representative. She also later claimed she was repeatedly slapped by police during the questioning. The claim has earned her and her family, who repeated it, an action for slander by the Perugia force. At the request of Knox’s lawyers, Italy’s highest appeals court ruled the statement inadmissible. But it featured at the trial, and has been referred to repeatedly during her appeal because of Lumumba’s involvement. Knox and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, are appealing against their sentences, of 26 and 25 years respectively. On Saturday, the prosecution asked that, on the contrary, their jail terms should be increased to life on the grounds that they had no motive for the killing. A lower court found that Kercher died resisting involvement in a drug-fuelled sex session. Amanda Knox Meredith Kercher Italy John Hooper guardian.co.uk
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