Heroically riding in to save the US Postal Service, it’s … junk mail? Yes, the USPS is focusing on advertising mail—”we don’t call it junk mail,” notes Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe—to boost its business, reaching out to businesses to send more of their “pitches” via snail mail. “What we…
Continue reading …Gaddafi’s last stronghold, the city of Sirte, becomes Libya’s final battle
October 6, 2011 No Comment
Libya’s revolution now rests on this one key city but its besieged residents are paying a high price for liberation The hotel does not even have a name. It was finished but never opened because of the outbreak of the Libyan revolution earlier this year. These days it serves as one of the bases of the revolutionary forces attempting to take Sirte from some of the last loyalists of the Gaddafi regime. The stairs to the seventh floor roof terrace are spotted with blood. The large windows, with views on to the Mediterranean and the beach below, have been blown out by sniper fire. From the roof terrace itself, where a spotter surveys the sniper positions from behind sandbags to call in tank fire, the besieged coastal city is visible below. To one side the highway that runs alongside the sea is empty, save for the armed trucks of the forces of Libya’s new government. On this, the east side of the city, the fighters are largely from the east – from Benghazi and cities like Bayda. Straight ahead, however, is a collection of buildings near the Ibn Sana hospital – two miles (3km) away – which has become the target of the tanks, rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns of Libya’s revolutionaries, lined up on the low sandy ridge that overlooks the town. On Thursday a pall of white smoke hung across this district as shells exploded every few minutes, and people in the hotel warned of a sniper firing from the minaret of a mosque 500 metres away from the hotel. “We want to get this thing finished quickly,” said a young bearded fighter standing by the wrecked lifts. “We had a plan to try and open the road to the hospital to evacuate civilians, but there were too many snipers. Yesterday we tried many times to open the road.” It is a reflection of the nature of Libya’s last battle. The new government has said it will announce full liberation when Sirte is taken , even though a second town – Bani Walid – has also yet to fall. But it is on the fall of Sirte that all expectations have been pegged. The battle is a ramshackle affair. On the west side of the city, where the katibas [rebels] from Misrata launch almost daily attempts to take the Gaddafi stronghold of the Ougadougou conference centre, the fighters gathered for an impromptu breakfast outside a little field hospital. On Thursday they had poured in behind three tanks only to be driven back by missiles. On the east side of Sirte, reached via a dirt road that skirts the city, the forces appear more organised. In the morning, a group met at a roundabout on the outskirts of the city, close to where a tank was pounding the buildings below. A burst of bullets came across the roundabout, sending the men scuttling for cover. “Yesterday the Gaddafi forces come up to the roundabout with an anti-aircraft gun and fired at us,” said Salam Farjani, 37, who came to Sirte from Bayda. There were no civilians around at this time; Farjani explained that they try to leave early in the morning and at dusk, when it is safer. “The ones who are left are the ones who have no petrol for their cars,” he said. “And the Gaddafi fighters in the town are just fighting for their survival. Salay Abiydi leads us up to an unfinished house overlooking the city. “See the buildings behind the hospital? Most of Gaddafi’s military is there. They have surrounded them with truck containers filled with sand. We have their radio frequency.” There is no water, electricity or petrol. People who come out of Sirte – including deserters – say everything is very expensive. Even a cigarette lighter costs four dollars. “When we see deserters, sometimes they try to come out with their families, but we find a pistol or papers saying who they are. They know it is finished. The last deserter that we had was a week ago from Gaddafi’s tribe,” said Abiydi. And while many have fled or are trying to flee the bombardment of Sirte, not all of those who want to will be able to get out before the government forces launch their long-threatened final assault. “We don’t expect to evacuate all of the city,” said Saleh Jabou, commander of one of the revolutionary katibas, the Lions of the Wadi. “We will still attack and that will be in a few days. We have people still trying to negotiate, but Gaddafi’s people – if they reply – say just give us more time.” The latest heavy fighting in Sirte came as the Red Cross said it was communicating with both sides but struggling to deliver aid because of the danger of operating in the city. “We barely manage to drive in,” said Dibeh Fakr, at a field hospital in a mosque on the outskirts of the city. “We deliver the items and get out, because the security situation is so bad and we can be targeted and may be caught in the shooting.” The battle for Sirte has come at a high cost for civilians. They are trapped, with dwindling supplies of food and water and no proper medical facilities to treat the wounded. Many residents are members of Gaddafi’s own tribe and those fleeing the city blamed the death and destruction on the forces of the new government, and the Nato alliance, whose warplanes have been flying sorties over the city. Hajj Abdullah, in his late 50s, was at a Red Cross post on the edge of Sirte where food was being handed out, explaining he had just escaped the city. “My 11-year-old died from the Nato rockets … I buried him where he died,” he told Reuters, “because it was too dangerous to go to the cemetery. There are random strikes in the city. People are dying in their houses.” Muammar Gaddafi Libya Middle East Africa Arab and Middle East unrest Peter Beaumont guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Gaddafi’s last stronghold, the city of Sirte, becomes Libya’s final battle
October 6, 2011 No CommentLibya’s revolution now rests on this one key city but its besieged residents are paying a high price for liberation The hotel does not even have a name. It was finished but never opened because of the outbreak of the Libyan revolution earlier this year. These days it serves as one of the bases of the revolutionary forces attempting to take Sirte from some of the last loyalists of the Gaddafi regime. The stairs to the seventh floor roof terrace are spotted with blood. The large windows, with views on to the Mediterranean and the beach below, have been blown out by sniper fire. From the roof terrace itself, where a spotter surveys the sniper positions from behind sandbags to call in tank fire, the besieged coastal city is visible below. To one side the highway that runs alongside the sea is empty, save for the armed trucks of the forces of Libya’s new government. On this, the east side of the city, the fighters are largely from the east – from Benghazi and cities like Bayda. Straight ahead, however, is a collection of buildings near the Ibn Sana hospital – two miles (3km) away – which has become the target of the tanks, rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns of Libya’s revolutionaries, lined up on the low sandy ridge that overlooks the town. On Thursday a pall of white smoke hung across this district as shells exploded every few minutes, and people in the hotel warned of a sniper firing from the minaret of a mosque 500 metres away from the hotel. “We want to get this thing finished quickly,” said a young bearded fighter standing by the wrecked lifts. “We had a plan to try and open the road to the hospital to evacuate civilians, but there were too many snipers. Yesterday we tried many times to open the road.” It is a reflection of the nature of Libya’s last battle. The new government has said it will announce full liberation when Sirte is taken , even though a second town – Bani Walid – has also yet to fall. But it is on the fall of Sirte that all expectations have been pegged. The battle is a ramshackle affair. On the west side of the city, where the katibas [rebels] from Misrata launch almost daily attempts to take the Gaddafi stronghold of the Ougadougou conference centre, the fighters gathered for an impromptu breakfast outside a little field hospital. On Thursday they had poured in behind three tanks only to be driven back by missiles. On the east side of Sirte, reached via a dirt road that skirts the city, the forces appear more organised. In the morning, a group met at a roundabout on the outskirts of the city, close to where a tank was pounding the buildings below. A burst of bullets came across the roundabout, sending the men scuttling for cover. “Yesterday the Gaddafi forces come up to the roundabout with an anti-aircraft gun and fired at us,” said Salam Farjani, 37, who came to Sirte from Bayda. There were no civilians around at this time; Farjani explained that they try to leave early in the morning and at dusk, when it is safer. “The ones who are left are the ones who have no petrol for their cars,” he said. “And the Gaddafi fighters in the town are just fighting for their survival. Salay Abiydi leads us up to an unfinished house overlooking the city. “See the buildings behind the hospital? Most of Gaddafi’s military is there. They have surrounded them with truck containers filled with sand. We have their radio frequency.” There is no water, electricity or petrol. People who come out of Sirte – including deserters – say everything is very expensive. Even a cigarette lighter costs four dollars. “When we see deserters, sometimes they try to come out with their families, but we find a pistol or papers saying who they are. They know it is finished. The last deserter that we had was a week ago from Gaddafi’s tribe,” said Abiydi. And while many have fled or are trying to flee the bombardment of Sirte, not all of those who want to will be able to get out before the government forces launch their long-threatened final assault. “We don’t expect to evacuate all of the city,” said Saleh Jabou, commander of one of the revolutionary katibas, the Lions of the Wadi. “We will still attack and that will be in a few days. We have people still trying to negotiate, but Gaddafi’s people – if they reply – say just give us more time.” The latest heavy fighting in Sirte came as the Red Cross said it was communicating with both sides but struggling to deliver aid because of the danger of operating in the city. “We barely manage to drive in,” said Dibeh Fakr, at a field hospital in a mosque on the outskirts of the city. “We deliver the items and get out, because the security situation is so bad and we can be targeted and may be caught in the shooting.” The battle for Sirte has come at a high cost for civilians. They are trapped, with dwindling supplies of food and water and no proper medical facilities to treat the wounded. Many residents are members of Gaddafi’s own tribe and those fleeing the city blamed the death and destruction on the forces of the new government, and the Nato alliance, whose warplanes have been flying sorties over the city. Hajj Abdullah, in his late 50s, was at a Red Cross post on the edge of Sirte where food was being handed out, explaining he had just escaped the city. “My 11-year-old died from the Nato rockets … I buried him where he died,” he told Reuters, “because it was too dangerous to go to the cemetery. There are random strikes in the city. People are dying in their houses.” Muammar Gaddafi Libya Middle East Africa Arab and Middle East unrest Peter Beaumont guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Kenneth Clarke prepares for ‘enforced retirement’ following cat spat with May
October 6, 2011 No Comment
Justice secretary unlikely to survive next reshuffle as No 10 backs home secretary in fall out over Human Rights Act Kenneth Clarke is bracing himself for an enforced retirement from the cabinet after Downing Street reacted furiously to his accusation that Theresa May gave a “laughable, childlike” example in criticising the Human Rights Act at this week’s Tory party conference. David Cameron is assessing whether to clear out the bulk of Clarke’s Ministry of Justice in a long-awaited reshuffle, after what No 10 regards as a series of blunders. The reshuffle was due in the spring but there was speculation that the shakeup, which will see the departure of the justice ministers Crispin Blunt and Jonathan Djanogly over separate mistakes, could come as early as next month. Clarke annoyed Cameron for the second time in a week yesterday when he appeared to raise the stakes in his dispute with No 10 and May over the Human Rights Act. In an interview with the Nottingham Post, the local newspaper in his Rushcliffe constituency, he launched a fresh attack on the home secretary over her claim that a man had been able to avoid deportation because he owned a cat. The justice secretary, who had mocked May at the Tory conference on Tuesday, said: “I sat and listened to Theresa’s speech, and I’ll have to be very polite to Theresa when I meet her – but in my opinion she should really address her researchers and advisers very severely for assuring her that a complete nonsense example in her speech was true. “I’m not going to stand there and say in my private opinion this is a terrible thing and we ought to get rid of the Human Rights Act. It’s not only the judges that all get furious when the home secretary makes a parody of a court judgment – our commission, who are helping us form our view on this, are not going to be entertained by laughable, child-like examples being given.” In further remarks on the website of the Nottingham Post’s political editor, Joe Watts, Clarke said: “I expect I will have to wear body armour the next time I meet Theresa. She was at the thing I was at last night, but I thought it was too soon to go over and greet her and say: ‘It wasn’t my fault.’” No 10, which strongly supported May’s speech and feared the justice secretary was opening a second front, asked Clarke to explain himself. Clarke told them he had given the interview in Manchester, a few hours before Cameron’s speech to the conference. In a statement released at lunchtime, Clarke said: “This is old news from an interview I gave during the conference. I consider this issue closed. “The prime minister has made the position clear, and I fully support it. There is a problem with deporting foreign prisoners, which I have always agreed with Theresa needs to be addressed. The government’s commission on a bill of rights is under way. I do rather regret the colourful language I used at one point in my interview.” No 10 thought the statement would close down the affair. But officials had failed to spot that Clarke and May were due to attend a ministerial meeting on trade. When they were spotted entering No 10, rumours appeared on Twitter that they had been summoned to No 10 for a dressing down. The two ministers made a point of talking in a friendly way as they left No 10 together. Downing Street regards Clarke’s public mocking of May as unacceptable behaviour towards a cabinet colleague. There is particular anger as it was the only divisive moment during the Tory conference. Friends of Clarke, 71, accept that he may struggle to remain in the cabinet when the prime minister carries out his reshuffle. They acknowledge the PM will be able to argue that a graceful retirement is the right option for the MP who entered parliament when Cameron was three years old. The Ministry of Justice could see the departure of three of its ministers. Blunt is being lined up for the sack after a row last summer over parties for prisoners. Djanogly has annoyed No 10 over the handling of his business affairs. But Clarke is adamant that he is right in his criticisms of May. He cites a statement by the judicial communications office on Tuesday, issued with the full authority of the Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, which said the Home Office was wrong. The original immigration ruling makes clear the judge considered the dying father of the Bolivian student’s partner far more important than their joint ownership of Maya the cat in deciding the case. The officially unreported judgment which emerged on Thursdayreveals that the unnamed student, aged 33, had been living in a “strong relationship” for four years with his gay partner who is settled in Britain. It is also shows that the senior immigration judge, JR Devittie, regarded evidence from friends and his partner’s brothers to the strong quality of their relationship as “persuasive and telling”. The original ruling shows that the student had entered Britain legally but overstayed his visa and was issued with a removal notice after being arrested for shoplifting. He was never charged with the offence. The detailed ruling makes clear that the evidence about the cat was only introduced by a witness. While sources close to May have been keen to stress this reference to the cat, they have not quoted the judge’s conclusion that the evidence from friends, relatives and photographs of family occasions had “amply demonstrated” the quality and strength of their relationship: “The evidence shows that the appellant is well integrated into the larger family his partner has with his siblings and parents. He attends family functions with his partner and is regarded as a member of the family.” He also rejected the Home Office’s contention that they could both simply go and live in Bolivia, pointing out that would not be reasonable given that his partner’s father was ‘in a condition that he was not expected to recover from’ and the family, including the Bolivian student had collectively decided to support him. The Home Office appealed Devittie’s decision claiming it had placed “an inappropriate weight on the Bolivian student having to leave behind not only his partner but also his joint cat.” The appeal judge, senior immigration judge Gleeson, does not seem to have taken this seriously and says that the Home Office claim that Devittie had made a mistake in law by applying a policy that had already been withdrawn was more significant. When the case was heard on 1 December 2008 Gleeson dismissed the appeal saying the immigration authorities had overlooked their own procedures for dealing with unmarried partners of a person present or settled in the UK. But even this judge couldn’t resist a parting shot: “The immigration judge’s determination is upheld and the cat need no longer fear having to adapt to Bolivian mice.” Kenneth Clarke Theresa May Conservatives Human Rights Act Human rights Immigration and asylum Conservative conference 2011 Nicholas Watt Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Britain in grip of worst ever financial crisis, Bank of England governor fears
October 6, 2011 No Comment
£75bn more quantitative easing announced by Sir Mervyn King to boost demand in economy Sir Mervyn King expressed fears that Britain is in the grip of the world’s worst ever financial crisis after the Bank of England announced it was injecting £75bn into the ailing economy. The Bank’s governor said the UK was suffering from a 1930s-style shortage of money and needed a second dose of quantitative easing to boost demand and prevent inflation falling too low. Shares rose strongly in the City, posting a rise of almost 200 points, after Threadneedle Street responded to growing evidence of a looming double-dip recession and the deepening crisis in the eurozone with a four-month programme of electronic money creation. Dismissing concerns that the action risked adding to inflationary pressure, King said Britain was now facing a different problem from the days when too much money flowing round the economy pushed up the annual cost of living. “There is not enough money. That may seem unfamiliar to people.” he told Sky News. “But that’s because this is the most serious financial crisis at least since the 1930s, if not ever.” George Osborne agreed to King’s request to be able to expand the asset purchase scheme under which the Bank buys government bonds from commercial banks. The chancellor said further steps would be taken to boost growth in his autumn statement next month. “Given evidence of continued impairment in the flow of credit to some parts of the real economy, notably small and medium-sized businesses, the Treasury is exploring further policy options,” Osborne said in a letter to the governor. “Such interventions should complement the monetary policy committee’s [MPC] asset purchases.” Britain’s first dose of quantitative easing, also known as QE1, was in 2009/10, with £200bn being injected into the economy. Labour said the launch of QE2 was an admission that the government’s economic policy had failed. Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, said: “With our economy stagnated since last autumn David Cameron and George Osborne are now betting on a bailout from the Bank of England. The government’s reckless policy of cutting spending and raising taxes too far and too fast is demonstrably not working. But rather than change course the government has spent the last week urging the Bank of England to step in and essentially print more money.” Some in the City were caught unawares by the scale and the timing of the Bank’s move. Last month, only one of the nine members of the MPC, Adam Posen, voted for more QE, but the mood has changed in response to poor domestic news and concerns that Europe’s sovereign debt crisis risks a repeat of the mayhem three years ago following the bankruptcy of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers. “The pace of global expansion has slackened, especially in the United Kingdom’s main export markets,” the MPC said in a statement explaining its decision. “Vulnerabilities associated with the indebtedness of some euro-area sovereigns and banks have resulted in severe strains in bank funding markets and financial markets more generally. These tensions in the world economy threaten the UK recovery.” The MPC said the slowdown in the UK economy, which saw no growth in the nine months to mid-2011, had in part been caused by temporary factors, but added that there was also evidence that the underlying pace of activity had weakened. It said the squeeze on real incomes caused by inflation running well ahead of wage increases and the impact of Osborne’s austerity programme were “likely to continue to weigh on domestic spending”. King admitted that inflation could breach 5% next month but said that would be the peak. Analysts said the Bank was now clearly more concerned about the risks of recession than about the possibility of a rise in inflation. Figures released by the Office for National Statistics this week showed that the downturn of 2008/09 was even deeper than originally believed, with gross domestic product dropping by 7.1% in the biggest recession since the second world war. The flatlining of the economy since last autumn has left activity still 4.4 percentage points below its 2008 peak. The TUC’s general secretary, Brendan Barber, said the decision to expand QE was the right one, but added: “While it is better than not doing anything, quantitative easing is no economic magic wand. “We worry that it does more to help the finance sector than the rest of the economy and could fuel further inflation at a time when living standards are already being squeezed.” Business leaders welcomed the move. Graeme Leach, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said: “Near-zero GDP and money supply growth made a compelling case and the Bank of England was right to launch QE2. It could be argued that the Bank of England was slow to introduce QE the first time, but thankfully it hasn’t made the same mistake twice.” By the end of the four-month programme, the Bank will have bought a total of £275bn in assets from banks, around 20% of GDP. The news prompted alarm in Britain’s pension funds, which are concerned that QE pushes down interest rates and reduces the return on their investments, but Threadneedle Street left the door ajar for a further expansion of QE2 should the economy not respond. Michael Saunders, UK economist at Citi, said the deteriorating outlook for the economy would require the Bank to “do QE on a very big scale”. He added: “We expect the cumulative total of QE (now heading to £275bn) will eventually reach £500bn or so. It may go even higher than that.” Bank of England Quantitative easing Credit crunch Economics Financial crisis Economic policy Larry Elliott Katie Allen guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Just days after Solyndra received its $535 million government-backed loan in September 2009 it applied for another one—this time for a mere $469 million—and the Energy Department put that request on a fast-tracked priority list, sources tell the Washington Post . The department was still seriously considering the request…
Continue reading …The solution to America’s endless economic woes is apparently the Olsen twins’ $39,000 backpack. In a Women’s Wear Daily interview from last week just getting some attention , Ashley explains why she and her sister thought extreme luxury might sell: “During our last economic crisis in the US, the only…
Continue reading …This is sure to ramp up the debate over whether the US was right to kill one of its own citizens, Anwar al-Awlaki: Reuters reports that a secretive panel places militants like him on a kill or capture list, and that there are no public records of the panel’s operations…
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Until recently, Huaxi was a poor farming community, typical of eastern China. Now,
Continue reading …Until recently, Huaxi was a poor farming community, typical of eastern China. Now,
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