Call it adding insult to injury or simply a worthwhile tax to help pay for their missteps, but first-in-the-nation legislation allows a one-time $25 fee on visitors to the Arizona Department of Corrections. Originally billed as a background check fee, the Department of Corrections now says the fee—only on those over 18 years of age,
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Murdoch to be asked to clarify whether he knew of key email that indicated phone hacking went beyond a ‘rogue reporter’ James Murdoch is likely to be recalled to parliament to answer fresh questions after two former News of the World executives said on Tuesday they were certain Murdoch was told of an explosive email that indicated phone hacking at the paper went beyond one rogue reporter. Commons sources said Murdoch would probably be ordered to appear for a second time before MPs next month to clarify whether or not he was told about the now-notorious “for Neville” email, which blew apart the newspaper’s defence that phone hacking was isolated to its royal editor, Clive Goodman. In a tense session before the culture, media and sport committee, Tom Crone, who left as News Group Newspapers’ legal manager in August, said he had told Murdoch about the email. It was after hearing the news of the email at a 15-minute meeting in 2008, he claimed, that Murdoch authorised a payment of £425,000 plus costs to Gordon Taylor, a football executive. This contradicts James Murdoch’s account of events. Giving evidence at the same session, Colin Myler, who became editor of News of the World after Andy Coulson resigned over phone hacking at the paper, said it was “inconceivable” that Murdoch was unaware that the email indicated hacking went beyond a single rogue reporter at the Sunday newspaper. Myler said: “I had made the point very clearly in my opening statement to that hearing that the ‘for Neville’ email was clearly a significant development.” Murdoch responded to Crone’s claims in a statement, insisting he stood by his earlier testimony to the select committee. He said his “recollection of the meeting regarding the Gordon Taylor settlement is absolutely clear and consistent”. “I was told by Mr Crone and Mr Myler … that there was evidence that Mulcaire had carried out [the interception of Mr Taylor's voicemails] on behalf of the News of the World. It was for this reason alone that Mr Crone and Mr Myler recommended settlement … They did not show me the email, nor did they refer to Neville Thurlbeck [the NoW reporter to which the email allegedly referred] ,” he added. “Neither Mr Myler nor Mr Crone told me that wrongdoing extended beyond Mr Goodman or Mr Mulcaire.” His statement is at odds with the evidence given to the committee by Crone. “[The email] was clear evidence that phone hacking was taking place beyond Clive Goodman. It was the reason we had to settle the case and in order to settle the case, we had to explain the case to Mr Murdoch and get his authority to settle, so clearly it was discussed,” he told MPs. “Since he gave us the authority we were asking for, I would take it that for the first time he realised News of the World was involved [in illegal voicemail interception] and that involvement involved people going beyond Clive Goodman,” Crone added. Until April of this year, News International claimed hacking was limited to Clive Goodman, the News of the World’s former royal reporter imprisoned for illegal voicemail interception in 2007 along with private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. The existence of the “for Neville” mail was first revealed by the Guardian in July 2009. It appeared to show that the NoW’s chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, was also implicated in hacking. The fact that a transcript of Taylor’s voicemail messages were passed back to the NoW, where they were transcribed by a junior reporter and returned to Mulcaire, implied there was wider knowledge of hacking within the newsroom. Crone also told the committee on Tuesdaythat Coulson had wanted to rehire Goodman after he was released from jail. He claimed Coulson had told him he hoped to “persuade” Hinton that he could come back, not as a reporter but as a subeditor or book “filleter” or editor. Myler and Crone testified to MPs as Lord Justice Leveson opened his inquiry into media practices and ethics. It emerged that Rebekah Brooks as well as a number of victims of media intrusion, including Madeleine McCann’s mother, Kate, have offered to give evidence to the inquiry. In separate evidence to the Commons liaison committee David Cameron conceded he became too close to NI executives and said he could “not guarantee that [he had] got absolutely right” his declaration of all meetings because it was difficult to recall all social occasions. Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers James Murdoch News of the World House of Commons Clive Goodman Tom Crone Colin Myler Amelia Hill guardian.co.uk
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Chancellor admits damage caused by credit crunch is forcing him to revise down already weak estimates for growth George Osborne insisted that the government would stick unwaveringly to its austerity plans, despite admitting that the long-term damage caused to the economy by the credit crunch was forcing him to revise down estimates for growth that were already weak. Raising fresh concerns that the UK is slipping towards a double-dip recession, the chancellor said Britain’s broken economic model meant there could be no return to “business as usual” and signalled that he would resist growing domestic and international pressure to boost activity by cutting taxes or slowing the pace of public spending cuts. Finance ministers and central bank governors from the G7 group of industrial nations are likely to call for fresh measures to stimulate growth when they meet in Marseilles this weekend following warnings this week from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank of the dangers of seeking to cut budget deficits too hard. But the chancellor said the coalition had no intention of rethinking its tax and spending plans, and instead dropped a broad hint that he expected the Bank of England to take action against growing recessionary pressures with a second round of the electronic money creation process known as quantitative easing. His comments came on a fresh day of turbulence in the financial markets, which saw the Swiss central bank prompt fears of global currency wars when it stepped in to halt the franc’s rise against the euro. The shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, said Osborne was in denial about the damage being caused to the UK by increases in VAT and the toughest curbs on spending since the 1970s. Following a run of downbeat economic data, Osborne acknowledged that he would have to cut his forecast of UK growth when he delivers his autumn statement to parliament on 29 November, blaming the necessity for the fourth downgrade since the coalition came to power 16 months ago on the government’s legacy from Labour. Recoveries from financial crises were slower and choppier than recoveries from other types of recession, Osborne said. “So, while we have all had to revise down our short-term expectations over recent weeks, the only people who should be fundamentally re-examining their view of the world are those who thought that this time was different.” The chancellor will be discussing the slowdown in the global economy and plans for deficit reduction with the IMF’s Christine Lagarde on Friday before flying off to the G7 meeting. Both Lagarde and the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, have issued strong statements this week about the risks that the recovery from the recession of 2008-09 is at risk of being aborted. Zoellick, speaking on Bloomberg TV, said: “We are moving into a dangerous period.” He also warned that the drive to cut national deficits across Europe could sink the region’s economic recovery. “Sometimes people hope that you can muddle through by providing financing and liquidity … they now recognise that’s not going to happen and instead what you see is with some of the weaker economies, that the austerity policies are pushing them into slower and slower growth and so this could be a downward spiral.” The United Nations has added its voice to the international organisations expressing concerns about the outlook for the world economy. Heiner Flassbeck, a former German finance minister and the director of the UN Conference on Trade and Development’s globalisation and development division, said the current economic situation was “extremely dangerous”. Speaking to AFP, Flassbeck said: “The best that could happen if we do nothing at this moment of time in the world economy is that we are looking [at] two lost decades, Japanese-like, in stagnation and deflation.” Most City firms believe that the economy – which has grown by 0.2% in the nine months to June – will continue to struggle. HSBC, one of Britain’s biggest banks, predicted yesterday that national output would expand by 1.1% in 2011 and 1.3% in 2012, the slowest recovery from recession since the second world war. Weak surveys for manufacturing, construction and services in the past week have increased the pressure on the Treasury and the Bank of England to provide a boost to growth, but Osborne said his strategy had ensured Britain had remained insulated from the sovereign debt crisis affecting other nations. “We had an emergency budget last summer on our own terms – not this summer on the market’s terms – unlike so many other countries. We have been ahead of the curve. We have been a safe haven in the sovereign debt storm. We have delivered record low interest rates for families, businesses and taxpayers. We can remain masters of our own destiny.” Osborne said ministers had always understood there could never be a return to the “business as usual” conditions that existed before the 2007 financial crisis. “We understood right from the beginning that the world of the boom years had changed beyond recognition,” he said. “We identified the problems and the risks – an overleveraged economy, an unsustainable budget deficit and a broken model of growth.” Balls said Britain faced a growth crisis. “Without strong growth and more people in work it will be harder to get the deficit down. That’s why we urgently need leadership from the chancellor on the world stage to agree a global plan for growth and a more balanced deficit plan here in Britain.” George Osborne Economic policy Ed Balls Recession Economic growth (GDP) Credit crunch Market turmoil Financial crisis Global recession Economics Nicholas Watt Larry Elliott guardian.co.uk
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enlarge Credit: BBC Tom Crone – On today’s menu: Embroiled Legal Manager. Click here to view this media As promised back in July the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee resumed hearings today with a new battery of allegations and counter-allegations over what James Murdoch knew and when did he know it. Leaving off at the end of the last batch of hearings were questions surrounding the infamous ” For Neville ” email. They resumed today with former News Of The World Legal Manager Tom Crone stating emphatically that yes James Murdoch knew, since it was “the only way to settle the case”, according to Crone. So to get you up to speed on today’s hearings, here is a recap of reports, starting with BBC Radio 4′s Today Program , continuing with The World At One and finishing with PM (which just finished a few minutes ago, as of this posting – 10:15 am PDT). This story continues galloping ahead with no intention of letting up or even stopping to take on water. Stay tuned.
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MPs expected to reject Nadine Dorries’s proposal to stop abortion providers from offering counselling Nick Clegg is on Wednesday planning to vote against a cross-party amendment, tabled by socially conservative MPs, that would strip abortion providers of their counselling role. In the most high-profile parliamentary debate on abortion since the general election, the deputy prime minister will lead a series of Liberal Democrat and Tory ministers into the no lobby. They will be joined by most Labour MPs in voting against the amendment tabled by Nadine Dorries, a Tory backbencher, and Frank Field, Labour’s former welfare reform minister. David Cameron, who was said to be initially sympathetic to the amendment, will vote against it if he is in the Commons. But the prime minister may not be at Westminster for the vote, which will take place after the weekly session of prime minister’s questions. The debate will be the first time parliament has voted on the highly sensitive issue of abortion since MPs voted to maintain the upper limit of 24 weeks in May 2008. Cameron supported an unsuccessful amendment by Dorries to reduce the upper limit to 20 weeks. The latest Dorries amendment would strip non-statutory abortion providers such as Marie Stopes and Bpas from offering counselling to women. This is designed to provide greater opportunities for independent counsellors, some of whom are influenced by pro-life groups, to provide counselling. NHS abortion providers would still be free to offer counselling. A rival amendment, tabled by the Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert, has also been accepted for debate. This would prevent any organisation from offering counselling unless it followed “current evidence-based guidance produced by a professional medical organisation specified by the secretary of state”. Huppert said: “My amendment effectively supports the status quo. It says that all advice should be based on the medical evidence that we have.” Evan Harris, the former Lib Dem MP who is advising Huppert, said it was important to ensure that advice was based on medical evidence because some NHS abortion providers were referring women to questionable independent counsellors: “It is unethical for the NHS to be signposting, or even referring, women to organisations which make up information or which seek to persuade women either way though guilt, shame or lies.” The Dorries amendment is expected to be comprehensively rejected by MPs. This means that the Huppert amendment is unlikely to be put to a vote. Yvette Cooper, the shadow women’s minister, accused Cameron on Monday of adopting a “cack-handed” approach to abortion after he appeared to show some sympathy for the Dorries amendment. But sources at the Department of Health – who said that all of its ministers would vote against the Dorries amendment – said that the government had always rejected her amendment. The sources said that ministers have made clear since the early summer that they favour a consultation on the counselling system for women who experience an unplanned pregnancy. This will first examine whether there are problems with the current system. Once that work has been completed the consultation will examine whether women should be offered independent counselling. But Diane Abbott, the shadow public health minister who will lead for Labour in the debate, was highly critical of the prime minister: “David Cameron has been entirely disingenuous in his handling of this, making promises to the anti-choice campaign one week, and going back on them the next week. The way the government has responded, prioritising government political strategy over the issues at hand, has shown complete disregard for women and families across the country. The government seems to be unable to properly manage the country’s health services. “The anti-choice campaign has been driven by misinformation, misleading arguments and distortion, and fuelled by the government’s appalling handling of this issue. Nadine Dorries and her allies cannot point to any evidence to support their claim that women considering a termination are receiving poor advice at the moment. It is crucial that we maintain women’s access to impartial, non-directive and clinical information on pregnancy choices. At the moment, there is a duty for women to be fully informed about the choices available to her – including alternatives to an abortion.” Abortion Health Nick Clegg David Cameron Liberal Democrats Conservatives Women NHS Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
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Muammar Gaddafi’s location still unknown despite rumours of asylum in Burkina Faso The hunt for Muammar Gaddafi has widened across Africa after Libyan army convoys crossed hundreds of miles of desert into neighbouring Niger, rumoured to be bound for Burkina Faso. Tantalising clues of a possible escape route for Gaddafi filled the void created by the disappearance of the ousted leader whose face was ubiquitous in Libya for more than 40 years. Reports of multiple convoys fleeing to Niger with looted gold and cash also suggested that the will of regime loyalists was failing and their last pockets of resistance in Libya could be near collapse. Details of the size of the convoys, and who was in them, were scarce as they made their way across the vast swath of Sahara with more than 1,000 miles between any populated areas on the two sides of the border. But military sources from France and Niger told Reuters that a convoy of between 200 and 250 vehicles from Libya was escorted to the northern city of Agadez by the Nigerien army. Amid speculation about a possible South African-brokered deal to allow Gaddafi to go free, there were rumours he might join the convoy en route to neighbouring Burkina Faso, which has offered him asylum. Guma el-Gamaty, the London representative of the National Transitional Council (NTC), said that Gaddafi could already be in Niger but admitted there was no certainty about his whereabouts. US and British officials said they were sceptical about claims the deposed leader had already left Libya. In London, Foreign Office sources described difficulties in communications – Britain does not have embassies in either Niger or Burkina Faso – amid swirling rumours about events in the remote Sahel borderlands. Gaddafi has courted poor African nations in recent years and used Libya’s oil wealth to buy influence at the African Union. He is believed to have financed the Tuareg rebellion in the north of Niger and remains popular in towns such as Agadez, where a majority of the population is Tuareg. Burkina Faso, a former recipient of large amounts of Libyan aid, offered Gaddafi sanctuary about two weeks ago even though it has signed the international criminal court treaty requiring it to hand suspects to The Hague. France, Niger and Burkina Faso, along with the NTC and Nato, all denied knowing where he was or of any deal to let him go abroad or find refuge. Niger’s foreign minister, Bazoum Mohamed, was quoted by al-Arabiya television saying that Gaddafi was not in the convoy, which arrived late on Monday. An aide to the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said: “We have no specific information that would indicate that Gaddafi is there.” But those comments did not contradict a French military source who claimed the 69-year-old fugitive and his son and heir Saif al-Islam might join the convoy later to head for Burkina Faso. The unnamed source told Reuters he had been informed that the commander of Libya’s southern forces, General Ali Khana, may also be in Niger, not far from the Libyan border. He said he had been told Gaddafi and his son, Saif al-Islam, would join Khana and catch up with the convoy should they choose to accept the offer of exile. The sources said the convoy, probably including officers from army units based in the south of Libya, may have looped through Algeria rather than crossing the Libya-Niger frontier directly. Algeria last week took in Gaddafi’s wife, daughter and two other sons, angering the NTC. A spokesman for the NTC described a convoy carrying gold and cash, including banknotes from the Central Bank of Libya branch in Sirte, Gaddafi’s birthplace that remains loyal to him. An NTC official, Fathis Baja, told Reuters: “Late last night 10 vehicles carrying gold, euros and dollars crossed from Jufra into Niger with the help of Tuaregs from the Niger tribe.” Tuareg nomads who inhabit the Sahara across frontiers say those fleeing Libya include many black Africans, some of whom may have been fighters for Gaddafi and now fear anger and reprisals. Officials in Niger have said the head of Gaddafi’s security brigades, Mansour Dhao, along with more than 10 other Libyans, crossed into Niger on Sunday. Meanwhile Abdoulaye Harouna, owner of the Agadez Info newspaper, told the Associated Press several dozen pick-up trucks had arrived on Monday, led by the Tuareg rebel leader Rissa ag Boula, a native of Niger who sought refuge in Libya and was believed to be fighting for Gaddafi. Gamaty warned that Niger would be penalised if it was found to have helped Gaddafi escape. “Niger is a neighbour of Libya from the south and should be considering the future relationship with Libya,” he told the BBC. This – if confirmed – will very much antagonise any future relationship between Libya and Niger.” Nato appeared to deny suggestions that it had deliberately refrained from attacking a large convoy or convoys reported to have crossed the border. “Nato continuously receives reports from various sources regarding weapons, vehicles and even convoys of vehicles moving throughout Libya,” said spokeswoman Oana Lungescu. “We do not discuss the intelligence and surveillance information we collect, but we do publicly announce actions we take when we act on threats to the civilian population. Our mission is to protect civilians, the civilian population in Libya, not to track and target thousands of fleeing former regime leaders, mercenaries, military commanders and internally displaced people.” Gaddafi has broadcast defiance since being forced into hiding two weeks ago, and vowed to die fighting on his own soil, although only three major Libyan cities remain under his control – Bani Walid, Sirte and Sabha. His fugitive spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said by phone on Monday: “Muammar Gaddafi is in excellent health and in very, very high spirits … he is in a place that will not be reached by those fractious groups, and he is in Libya.” Both Gaddafi and Saif al-Islam have previously been said to be in the tribal stronghold of Bani Walid, 90 miles south of Tripoli. But that belief has evaporated after days of blockade of the town. NTC negotiators continued to press on Tuesday for a peaceful surrender in Bani Walid to avoid further bloodshed. They met four local clan leaders at a televised parley in a mosque in Boshtata, 30 miles from the town. The clan leaders said the majority of Bani Walid’s population were ready to surrender but the rest feared reprisals, in particular against 63 Gaddafi loyalists named on a wanted list. They told the meeting of rumours circulating in Bani Walid that the rebels were going to rape the women of the town and kill people. The rebels offered a temporary amnesty to loyalists and ordered that a local radio station, accused of spreading alarmist propaganda, be shut down. Mahmoud Jibril, prime minister of the NTC, joined the talks by telephone on loudspeaker, promising to restore food, water and power supplies while protecting civilians. “This is a real chance for Bani Walid to show its real face to the world, to enter the history of Libya,” he said. As the participants emerged, rebels sang and fired into the air in celebration. Moftha Bagol, a mediator from Bani Walid, said: “Around 90% of the people there are against Gaddafi. A few are still refusing because they have been involved in killing and bloodshed and are scared something will happen to them later. “But we are determined to persuade them. With god’s help we hope to convince them that we are all brothers.” Hours later, sources in Boshtata suggested that the attempt had not been a success and the stalemate continued. Near Sirte there was the first sign of heavy fighting for some days. Combatants reported exchanges of shell fire and rockets to the east. Muammar Gaddafi Libya Middle East Africa David Smith guardian.co.uk
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• Press F5 for the latest or use our auto-refresh button below • Email paul.doyle@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts • Follow Paul on Twitter if that’s your thing • Follow all tonight’s latest scores across Europe On England: “It looks like Downing playing for Liverpool and Young playing for Manchester United is a wing-wing situation for England,” chortles Erlend Andenaes. In other news , Armenia have just taken the lead in Slovakia, meaning Ireland could remain in the runners-up spot tonight following their jammy draw in Russia. Half-time: England are doing enough. After a desultory half hour Downing and Young combined for a fine goal and confidence has coursed through them ever since. They’ve been far from brilliant, but they’ve been better than Wales. 42 min: Wales’ limitations as an attacking force are being exposed now, as despite their attempts to rebel against their apparent fate, England, becalmed by the goal, are comfortably on top, without dazzling. 40 min: Young produces a superb cross after a short corner, but Rooney fails to connect with an attempted header just five yards out. 38 min: Bale attempts a solo burst from deep, but runs into trouble and England launch the ball back forward quickfast. Hennessey is forced to charge off his line to boot it clear just before Rooney could latch onto it. 36 min: Downing has his dander up and that’s bad news for Taylor, who’s starting to look decidedly dizzy. GOAL! England 1-0 Wales (Young 35′) Unsurprisingly the wingers were responsible for the break-through. Downing twisted and darted past Ledley down the right and then cut the ball back into the centre, where Young arrived to drive low into the net from eight yards. 32 min: Gunter dispossess goals deep in his own half and then races forward … and completely loses his head, attempting to blast the ball into the top corner from 30 yards. Keep their composure in such situations and Wales could shock England. 30 min: Wales are working extremely hard to subdue England, a few forays down the flanks from Downing and Young being the only signs of English penetration. The midfield trio of Lampard, Milner and Barry is not, would you believe, offering any ingenuity. 27 min: The Welsh have a solid centre so England can only make any ground down the wings. Young jinks and tries to tempt Gunter into committing himself but the defender holds his ground, though Young still manages to deliver a dangerous cross, which Rooney meet and volleys way, way over. 25 min: A lapse of concentration from Cole gives Wales a corner. The visitors must be beginning to sense an upset given England’s drabness so far. But they’ll have to come up with something better than the weak corner that they’ve just delivered. 23 min: In a nutshell, this has been a typical England Wembley performance so far. Uninspired. 20 min: England are too proud to rough up Wales’ main man. Milner gets a deserved booking for clattering into Bale. 19 min: England have truly twigged that Downing has Taylor on toast, so are feeding him regularly. A fine cross towards Rooney from the Liverpool man prompts Hennessey to scamper off his line to claim. Meanwhile, this from Robin Hazlehurst. “Fancy updates from Norn Iron’s match in Estonia?” chirps Robin. “I’m watching it live on Estonian TV – I would have gone but the game actually sold out. 30 minutes gone, NI had most of the possession but not too many real threats, and Vunk has just put Estonia ahead with a cracking first-time strike from outside the box. Worth looking up. The Irish have now got the vunk on – oh and Estonia have just scored from 30 yards, Kink this time. Vunk and Kink, what a strikeforce.” 17 min: Taylor buys a Downing feint all too easily but the winger overhits his cross. However, encouraged by the ease with which Downing got to the by-line, England work it down the right again, and this time the cross demands an urgent headed clearance. 14 min: Morison gives Terry a bit of the Grant Holt treatment, outrunning and then outmuscling the England captain to reach a long ball first. And then boom a rash shot miles over from 25 yards and an acute angle. “You know, the fact that the crowd applauded a successful sideways pass from Lampard to Cole in the sixth minute tells you everything that is wrong with the English game,” intones Phil Sawyer. “Have our expectations really sunk so low?” Well, in days of yore they’d have been baying at every player to launch it into the mixer, so perhaps that is progress? 12 min: Wales are beginning to emerge as an offensive force, having weathered England’s rather feeble storm. Collison embarks on a fine run through the middle before being halted by an impressive Terry challenge. Cahill attempts to mop up but only goes an spills a bucket of dirty water all over the box, allowing Ramsey to fire off a shot from the edge of the area. A terrible shot, as it turned out. 11 min: As soon as Bale gets the ball, which is rarely, England players converge on him. Young proves the point, by chopping the Spur down mid-way inside the England half. Bale swings in the resultant freekick and Williams nods several yards wide. 9 min: England are dominating possession, and channelling most of their attack down their left, seemingly having identified Gunter as a weak link. Cole is getting a lot of space but so far has not made optimal use of it. 7 min: Blake diverts a Cole cross behind for a corner. Terry meets Young’s delivery but heads behind, then complains about Williams’ holding him even though he had a handful of Williams’ short too. 5 min: You could call England’s start ponderous or composed, depending on your mood. But Lampard, for one, appears to have had enough of the slow sideways passing so launches on long for Rooney to chase. Williams misjudges it but Hennessey hurtles off his line to intercept before Rooney can impose punishment. 3 min: So it’s all England so far, but most in the English half too. In other words, nothing much is happening yet. Or, “the sides are just feeling each other out”. 1 min: England set the game in motion. Immediately they begin stroking the ball around at a somewhat leisurely pace. They eventually work their way down the left before Gunter intervenes, poking the ball out of play from beneath Cole’s feet. 7:42pm: Not to be outdone, some avenging Welsh fans boo (a particularly dreary rendition of) God Save the Queen. 7:41pm: The Welsh anthem is greeted by boos and whistles by a sizeable contingent of heroic Englishmen in the crowd. Well done lads, that’ll learn ‘em. 7:39pm: So much for the kick-off delay. The teams waddle out onto the pitch to moderate applause: Wembley still only seems about half-full … 7:35pm: Word from Wembley is that congestion outside the ground is so bad that kick-off is likely to be delayed. Next year’s Olympics are going to be a right old lark, aren’t they? Preamble: England are on their worst winless streak at home for 30 years and you wouldn’t rule out another bout of Wembley paralysis, and not simply because creaking Frank Lampard has returned to the starting line-up. In the only other change from Friday’s easy victory in Bulgaria, Fabio Capello has drafted in James Milner, both because Theo Walcott has a “knock” and because Wales’ best player, Gareth Bale, needs to be carefully tracked. Can’t leave anything to chance when you’re hosting the team ranked 117th in the world. Bale produced his best ever performance for his country as Wales’ ended an epic slump by beating Montenegro last Friday but two of the other star performers in that match, David Vaughan and Craig Bellamy, got yellow cards booked and are therefore suspended. That was particularly harsh on Bellamy, who was booked for an imaginary foul, but others might say that it’s impossible to be too harsh on Craig Bellamy so there you go. The absent duo are replaced tonight by Jack Collison and Andrew Crofts. Steve Morison was the only Norwich player to look out of his depth when they took on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last week but after a fine performance against Montenegro he may be fancying his chances of giving John Terry a tougher game this time, possibly having got tips off Grant Holt, who tormented the England captain in that narrow Norwich loss. In all likelihood, however, most of the action is going to be around the Welsh box, which means at least someone in red is going to have to replicate the magnificent defiance of Richard Dunne in Moscow this afternoon if Wales are to avoid defeat. Teams: England: Hart; Smalling, Cole, Cahill, Terry; Barry, Downing, Lampard, Milner; Young, Rooney. Wales: Hennessey; Gunter, Blake, Williams, Taylor; Ledley, Crofts, Ramsey; Collison, Morison, Bale Euro 2012 qualifiers England Wales Euro 2012 Paul Doyle guardian.co.uk
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Shahrvand-e-Emrooz shut down after mocking president’s relationship with ‘wise man’ Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei The picture looks like a 16th-century Persian miniature. The wise man on the right is lecturing his companions who kneel dutifully in front of him, listening to his sermon. But something is not quite right. On second look, it becomes clear that all the characters are in fact recognisable to modern-day Iranians. Indeed, the wise man is none other than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s confidant, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei . And in an obvious satire of the country’s political leaders, it is Mashaei who counts the president among his obedient followers – not the other way round. The image appeared on the front page of an Iranian magazine, Shahrvand-e-Emrooz , a month ago. But now it seems the Iranian regime has taken offence, and it is widely believed the picture was the reason behind the enforced closure of the magazine on Monday. Shahrvand-e-Emrooz was previously shut down, along with several other titles, after the unrest that followed the 2009 elections, but resumed publication recently. Another publication, Roozegar , was also closed on Monday. The picture highlights the concerns among Iranian conservatives over Mashaei’s growing political influence . Supporters of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, believe that Mashaei, whose daughter is married to the president’s son, is attempting to undermine clerical power in Iran. Opponents of Mashaei, who favours cultural openness, say he has the president under his “spell” and have accused his team of anything from corruption to sorcery . Several of Mashaei’s close allies and some senior aides to the president have been arrested in recent months. Ahmadinejad’s unwavering support for Mashaei has infuriated conservatives and has even cost him the support of Khamenei. In the past six months, a power struggle has developed between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei, which is widely believed to have stemmed from Mashaei’s influence. Analysts believe Ahmadinejad had been grooming Mashaei to succeed him in the next presidential elections, due in two years, but that has now become unlikely. Khamanei is also believed to have chosen to get along with Ahmadinejad rather than orchestrate a feud over Mashaei in an effort to avoid unrest during the elections. Iran’s opposition believes that by focusing on Mashaei and his relatively liberal views, Ahmadinejad is trying to find a way to attract votes and preserve his dwindling power. Analysts say Ahmadinejad and his team are casting their eyes on the period after Khamenei’s death. Tehran’s regime has given more space to opposition newspapers in recent weeks in a move to appease them in the runup to parliamentary elections. But it would appear that Shahrvand-e-Emrooz and Roozegar have gone too far in pushing the limits in criticising the government. In the picture, Mashaei who appears to be in a Safavid dynasty-era costume, is sitting close to Hamid Baghaei, Ahmadinejad’s executive deputy, who is shown as a handsome male companion. Iranian bloggers have also joked about Ahmadinejad’s relationship with Mashaei, which is often described as affectionate. Roozegar is believed to have been closed for publishing an interview with an Iranian politician analyst, Morad Saghafi, who referred to the 2009 post-election unrest. Reporters Without Borders on Tuesday condemned the closure of the publications and the ongoing imprisonment of Iranian journalists and bloggers. “Despite some conciliatory gestures, the Iranian authorities continue to crack down on the media and journalists, closing the weekly Shahrvand e-Emrooz and the daily Roozegar yesterday,” it said. Iran remains one of the world’s worst jailers of journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which campaigns for press freedom. Iran Press freedom Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Middle East Newspapers Newspapers & magazines Saeed Kamali Dehghan guardian.co.uk
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Moat inquest told family should have been involved, and hear that gunman had previously attempted suicide Raoul Moat’s elder brother told an inquest he believes police made a mistake in not allowing him to speak to the fugitive gunman during a stand-off in which he died. Within days of Moat’s release from Durham prison in July last year, he shot and injured 22-year-old Samantha Stobbart, the mother of his child, and killed her new boyfriend, 29-year-old Chris Brown. He also shot and blinded PC David Rathband, an unarmed officer sitting in a patrol car. Moat had been on the run for a week before the six-hour stand-off with officers in Rothbury, Northumberland, in which he died. He shot himself after he was twice Tasered by police. Officers used an untested XREP Taser that had not been approved by the Home Office. On the second day of the inquest in Newcastle on Tuesday, Angus Moat, a 41-year-old tax officer who has a different birth father but the same mother as the 37-year-old bouncer, said he had spoken to a senior officer about becoming a third party intervener alongside the police negotiators. He admitted he had not spoken to his brother for seven or eight years, as they had drifted apart. Angus Moat suggested police should have thrown Raoul a mobile telephone if he was not able to speak face-to-face. He said he “should have been involved” in attempts to “talk Raoul down”. Angus Moat said during the week his brother was on the run, their mother had spoken to the press and said Raoul would be better off dead, but he had not agreed. He described their mother as “severely mentally ill and incapable of being a parent”, as he said she had bipolar disorder. When asked during the inquest at Newcastle crown court if his brother could have been similarly afflicted, he replied: “Most definitely. I think he had an undiagnosed case of bipolar brought on by stress, being in prison, losing his business and his home.” He said his brother had attempted suicide in 1999 by taking a drug overdose and had been treated in hospital. Asked by John Beggs, a barrister acting for Northumbria police, if his comments stemmed from the fact that Raoul Moat did not have any close contact with family members over seven or eight years, he said: “It is a factor, but not principally.” He told the inquest jury: “I’d have told him to think of his kids. “Raoul thought everybody in his own family was against him and I wanted to show him that was not the case. “I thought if I could speak to him it could change the way he was feeling and the way he would act. I thought the presence of some of his family members might change things.” He said Raoul responded to aggression and threat, “but he also responded to kindness and friendship”. He added: “I thought it could potentially be the end of my brother’s life and I did not want that to happen. I knew he would be in a lot of trouble but I did not want him to die. My view was that going to prison for the rest of his life would be better than death.” The inquest earlier heard the gunman had said he would “take the shoot-out” rather than go back to jail. He left a message on a dictating machine three or four days before he was cornered by police marksmen. In the message, he described losing the only two people who mattered to him – his grandmother and his former girlfriend, Stobbart. He said: “Just take the shoot-out and everybody’s happy.” Superintendent Jim Napier of Northumbria police, in charge of the criminal investigation into Moat’s rampage, said the message had affected the way in which the stand-off was handled. “It is a personal disappointment I never got to see Mr Moat account for his crimes,” he told the hearing. The inquest had heard that while in prison, Moat had warned Stobbart he would “go crazy” after she ended the relationship. Police say this was the catalyst for his murderous rampage. The 11 members of the jury will focus on the events on 9 and 10 July, when Moat was found. There will be questions about weapons used, how police managed the incident, how officers dealt with the dead man and how he acted, the jury was told. Among the questions to be addressed are whether the XREP Taser should have been deployed. The hearing continues. Raoul Moat Police Crime Gun crime Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
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Two opinion polls put US president’s approval rating at new career low, with faltering economy the dominant issue for voters Barack Obama’s popularity has sunk to a new low, according to two new polls, adding to pressure on him to come up with a radical and workable jobs plan that might reverse his fortunes. Just 43% of people surveyed in a Washington Post/ABC opinion poll published on Tuesday approve of the job the president is doing overall – a new career low. This was mirrored by a Politico/George Washington University poll that put Obama’s approval rating at 45% , a drop of 7% since May, reflecting attitudes towards his handling of the debt standoff with Republicans in Congress. The dominant issue is the faltering economy, particularly unemployment, which is stuck at 9.1%, and Obama needs to produce some fresh job creation ideas when he addresses a joint session of Congress on Thursday night. “The poll figures are not good for him but we are still looking at 14 months before the next election,” Norm Ornstein, a political analyst at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, said on Tuesday. “An awful lot can happen in 14 months … I would not write him off.” Orstein said: “If anything can serve as a wake-up call – as if we haven’t had enough alarm calls already – these polls ought to do it.” He added that he felt Obama needed to become “more feisty” in dealing with the Republicans. The president, speaking in Detroit on Monday, said part of his plan would be to create big infrastructure projects such as rebuilding crumbling roads and bridges in the US, something he has been talking about since his 2008 White House campaign. The president may opt for projects he thinks Republicans in Congress will agree to, or go instead for proposals he knows they will block, allowing him to portray them as obstructionist. One of his would-be Republican challengers, Mitt Romney, in Las Vegas today, proposed an alternative approach to Obama in which economic revival would be left to the private sector rather than the federal government. In a 160-page book setting out proposals for getting people back to work, Romney advocates keeping taxes low and even reducing some, while cutting federal regulation and scrapping Obama’s healthcare reforms. Voters traditionally begin to pay more attention to politics after the Labor Day weekend, and this week will help shape the race for the White House. As well as Obama’s attempt to win Congressional support for a job stimulus package, the Republican candidates seeking to replace him as president are scheduled to debate in California on Wednesday night. It will be the first time Texas governor Rick Perry, who is well to the right of his party, will share a platform with the others seeking the Republican nomination. Although he only joined the race last month, Perry has quickly established himself as the frontrunner. The Politico poll puts him on 36%, with Romney, the previous favourite, on 17%. Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul are each on 10%, with the remainder in single figures. The televised debate will present a first opportunity for much of the US public to appraise Perry. Ornstein, who works for the AEI but describes himself as a ‘bastion of conservativism’, said though Perry is very smooth, many Republicans remain uneasy about him. “I think just as interesting as Perry is how the other candidates react to him. Romney has to change his approach … Perry is not used to debating when people push back,” said Ornstein. “Whether Romney has it in him to be an attack dog is an interesting question.” Barack Obama US elections 2012 Republican presidential nomination 2012 Republicans United States Democrats Rick Perry Mitt Romney Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
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