Operation Cross Check, a seven-day “enforcement and removal” sweep, rounded up 2,901 immigrants with criminal records in the largest crackdown in the history of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, reports the New York Times . Of those, more than 1,600 had been convicted of a felony, while the…
Continue reading …Mother tells of murder arrest after hospital missed infection in son, 3
September 29, 2011 No CommentAlfie Podmore could have survived if antibiotics had been prescribed at Birmingham children’s hospital, inquest told A mother was held on suspicion of murder when her three-year-old son died three days after being released from hospital suffering from an infection that developed into pneumonia. Alfie Podmore, from Quinton, Birmingham, would probably have survived had he been given antibiotics, an inquest has heard. His 21-year-old mother, Abby Podmore, was arrested and held in a police station for 24 hours and was not able to see her son’s body for 10 days. The inquest heard Alfie had not been seen within the one-hour target time at Birmingham children’s hospital where he was taken on 3 February. A report from the hospital said Alfie had not been not showing many of the typical signs of pneumonia. But the hospital later said it could have done more to help him. The hearing at Birmingham coroner’s court heard how Alfie complained to doctors of a pain in his shoulder, and the hospital admitted it was unusual for a child of his age to be able to identify a specific area of the body where there was pain. No blood tests were carried out. The Birmingham coroner, Adrian Cotter, said: “Alfie definitely had an infection, it may have shown up on an x-ray or with a blood test but we don’t know if it would have done because those things were not done.” In a statement to the inquest, Abby Podmore, a dental nurse, said her “horrifying” arrest had robbed her of the chance to grieve for her son. Alfie had been taken ill while at nursery on 2 February. The following day, he was taken to hospital but was discharged after staff failed to diagnose a developing infection on his lung. He died at home on 6 February after developing septicaemia. Telling how she tried in vain to revive her son when she found him on the morning of 6 February, Podmore said: “I knew he was not breathing so I started to give him CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation].” An ambulance then arrived, the inquest heard, but police asked her to leave the house and change out of her clothes. Podmore said: “I found it distressing because I wanted to be with his body. I was in a state of shock and didn’t know what was going on.” Two riot vans and a total of 15 police officers then arrived and her partner was also detained. “I couldn’t believe what was happening – I felt like I was being treated like a criminal,” she added. Neighbours had looked on as Podmore and her partner were arrested, “I remained in a police station for 24 hours,” she said. “Looking back, I feel I have been robbed of the chance to say goodbye to Alfie.” In a statement released in July, West Midlands police said it had launched an internal investigation into the arrest. Dr Phillip Cox, a consultant paediatric pathologist, told the inquest that Alfie had about a pint of fluid on his chest and that if he had been given antibiotics he probably would have lived. A postmortem found he died from natural causes. The inquest continues. Birmingham NHS Police Health Children Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …German lawmakers have cleared the way for an expansion of the size and powers of the euro zone bailout fund, in a major step toward tackling the bloc’s sprawling sovereign debt crisis. A clear majority of lawmakers in Germany’s lower house of parliament voted today in favor of expanding the…
Continue reading …Met investigates how Theresa May’s diary was found in Glasgow concert hall
September 29, 2011 No Comment
Police officer subject to ‘local management action’ after reporter from Police Review magazine discovers book at memorial event Scotland Yard has been called in after a personal diary belonging to Theresa May, the home secretary, was mislaid in a Glasgow concert hall. The Metropolitan police is investigating how the book was lost but a spokesman said May’s security had not been compromised. In fact the personal diary was found at the concert hall by a reporter from Police Review, a magazine for police officers, who was attending the same National Police Memorial Day event as the home secretary. Police Review – which is read by 140,000 officers – returned the diary, but not before copying information from within it. The weekly magazine said it would be publishing details of her diary entries in its issue due out on Friday. Reports coming out of Whitehall said the person responsible for mislaying the diary was May’s protection officer. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman later said: “Following an investigation, and as part of the MPS [Metropolitan police service] misconduct process, an officer has been subject to local management action. The officer has not been suspended.” Police Review said the diary included details of when May would be working out at a gym in her Maidenhead constituency in Berkshire, as well as details of meetings she had planned with senior police officers. These meetings have now taken place. There was also one mystery entry – a scribbled mention of the News of the World, the Sunday tabloid which closed in July. The diary also mentioned a meeting with Keith Bristow, chief constable of Warwickshire police, whom the document described as an “NCA [National Crime Agency] candidate”. The NCA has not yet had a chief appointed. The meeting was scheduled to occur at the Home Office headquarters on Marsham Street, central London. Scotland Yard said earlier: “We are aware that a document was misplaced and are looking into the circumstances of how this occurred. The paper was not protectively marked. Security was not compromised.” The diary featured timings and addresses for events May was to attend in the Maidenhead area, including a charity cabaret evening at Wentworth Golf Club, according to Police Review. The book also contained mobile phone numbers for her private secretary and for other contacts. May flew to Scotland on Sunday for the memorial day. Before attending the event, she had a “private meeting” with Stephen House, chief constable of Strathclyde police – who had been one of the favourite candidates to be commissioner of the Met. May spoke to him about Strathclyde’s approach to tackling gangs then had lunch with Nick Herbert, police minister. May’s diary reportedly stated that after returning to England, she was to attend a magistrates court open morning in Maidenhead and to appear on the Anne Diamond show on BBC Radio Berkshire. On Tuesday there was the meeting with Bristow, and one later with the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, in his office. Police Review said it contacted the Home Office on Monday to organise the diary’s safe return and held back from publishing details of the meetings until after they had taken place. Theresa May Police Scotland Metropolitan police London Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk
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Neville Thurlbeck, the paper’s former chief reporter, has withdrawn from an employment tribunal hearing due to take place on Friday A News of the World reporter claiming he had blown the whistle on phone hacking at the Sunday tabloid has pulled out of an employment tribunal hearing in his unfair dismissal case . Neville Thurlbeck, the paper’s former chief reporter, was due to appear for a hearing related to his case at East London Tribunal Service in Stratford on Friday but has withdrawn. He was sacked by Rupert Murdoch’s News International earlier this month and was asking the tribunal to force the company to continue to pay him on the grounds that he was a whistleblower and should not have been fired. News International confirmed that he had now withdrawn this “application for interim relief”. It is not clear however whether he will continue with a case for unfair dismissal. His unfair dismissal case emerged earlier this week. Thurlbeck has been a central figure in the affair and was arrested and bailed in April on suspicion of conspiring to intercept voicemail messages. Earlier this week he was re-bailed until March pending further questioning. The Guardian revealed two years ago the existence of a “for Neville” email – believed to be a reference to Thurlbeck – sent to private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, which contained a transcript of messages left on a mobile phone belonging to Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Gordon Taylor. The “for Neville” email contradicted the defence that News International had maintained until late 2010, that phone-hacking was limited to Mulcaire and one “rogue reporter” on the News of the World, former royal editor Clive Goodman. Both were jailed in early 2007 for phone-hacking offences. •
Continue reading …Small-town crash sparks calls for illegal immigration crackdown in Mass.
September 29, 2011 No CommentAn apparent drunk-driving fatality in the small Massachusetts town of Milford has ignited a state-wide campaign to crack down on illegal immigration. Last month, Ecuadoran Nicholas Guaman was charged with vehicular homicide for allegedly running down 23-year-old motorcyclist Matthew Denice in his truck while drunk. Guaman didn’t have a driver’s license. The victim’s family began
Continue reading …Barclay brothers buy Claridge’s in £700m Irish property debt fire sale
September 29, 2011 No Comment
Trio of five-star London hotels sold to owners of Daily Telegraph by Nama after property crash hits Dublin syndicate Three of London’s top hotels, including Claridge’s, have been sold to the Barclay brothers, owners of the Daily Telegraph, by the Irish state agency trying to recover billions of euros of bad property debt. The Channel Isles-based brothers acquired Maybourne Group, which also owns the Connaught and Berkeley hotels, by buying £700m of loans originally taken out by a syndicate of Irish property developers. The deal reinforces David and Frederick Barclay’s position as the owners of some of Britain’s finest hotels. The brothers already own the Ritz in Piccadilly, central London. It is the largest property sale by the Irish National Asset Management Agency (Nama) since it was set up to deal with the debt amassed by developers during the property boom. The five-star hotels had been bought by a syndicate that included Derek Quinlan, a former tax inspector, and Paddy McKillen in 2005 in one of the most audacious deals by Irish entrepreneurs riding on a wave of cheap credit. The syndicate was then hit by Ireland’s property crash. The agency said on Thursday it has recovered every penny of debt from the Claridge’s deal. “The loans were sold for in excess of €800m with Nama recovering 100% of the original value of the loans plus interest,” it stated. The deal marks a succesful start to a fire sale by Nama of London property within its control, announced earlier this year, including the Citigroup tower in Canary Wharf, part of Leicester Square and the Louis Vuitton building in Bond Street. With Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, Nama is one of the top property lenders in the UK with a loan book of €30bn (£26bn). With the Irish property market still in the doldrums, Nama is concentrating on the UK to get a return for the Irish taxpayer by 2013. It is hoping to cash in on the commercial property bubble in London which is seen as a safe haven by investors fleeing exceptionally volatile stock, bond and currency markets. Last month it published a list of 850 distressed properties up for sale both in Ireland and the UK – including pubs across Britain, a string of hotels including the Crowne Plaza in Shoreditch, London and, at the bottom end, a car park in Bangor in north Wales and an off licence in Muswell Hill, London. Quinlan and McKillen funded the purchase of the three landmark London hotels through loans from Allied Irish Banks and Anglo Irish Bank, both since nationalised. Quinlan has had a spectacular fall in Ireland’s property crash and has been trying to offload the Citigroup tower which he bought with property investor Glenn Maud. The 42-storey tower at 25 Canada Square was bought from Royal Bank of Scotland in 2007 for £1.1bn and Nama had been close to concluding a sale. It was withdrawn from the market last week after hitting a snag related to a recent legal ruling affecting rental payments. Speaking in Dublin on Thursday, chief executive Brendan McDonagh said loan sales would form a major part of Nama’s strategy. He was open to selling loans relating to “individual assets, whole debtor connections or groups of loans by geography.” The agency is choosing advisers in Europe and the US to assist in property sales. Nama has acquired approximately €600m in loans linked to assets in the US and €30bn of loans linked to assets in the UK and Europe. Ireland Commercial property Real estate London Hotels Barclay Brothers Europe Lisa O’Carroll guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A vigilante group calling itself the “Zeta Killers” has surfaced and claimed responsibility for the slaughter of 35 drug cartel members in Veracruz last week . The group—which describes itself as “anonymous warriors” working for the good of the Mexican people—appears to be connected to a rival drug cartel,…
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Belo Monte hydroelectric dam project halted after ruling that it risked damaging fish stocks on Xingu river A Brazilian judge has ordered construction to be suspended on a controversial hydroelectric dam in the Amazon. In his ruling, Judge Carlos Castro Martins said that all working on the Belo Monte dam that interfered with the natural course of the Xingu river should be halted because of the risk that fish stocks would be damaged. The £7bn dam would reputedly be the third largest in the world, after China’s Three Gorges and the Itaipu project on the Brazil-Paraguay border. The injunction is the latest development in a decades-long battle against the Belo Monte dam, plans for which were originally conceived in the mid-1970s but subsequently shelved after major protests. Brazil’s government argues that the dam is essential to the energy needs of the country’s booming economy. A full environmental licence for the construction was issued in June, with federal authorities promising a series of initiatives to lessen the social and environmental impact of the dam . But on Tuesday, activists from the anti-dam Xingu Para Sempre movement claimed the project had brought “unprecedented chaos” to the riverside town of Altamira, with thousands of impoverished migrants having arrived by boat or road in search of work. “Nothing good is coming to the region and all of our darkest prophesies are coming true,” Antonia Melo, one of the movement’s leaders, said. Earlier this week, politicians from Altamira’s townhall filed papers with the regional public prosecutor, asking for work on the dam to be interrupted. “The former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, publicly promised … that the project would bring major benefits to Altamira and 10 other towns around this mega-project,” the document said. “But what we have so far seen are painful frustrations such as increased poverty, insecurity and social chaos.” On Wednesday the judge issued his ruling to suspend building work. While there has long been widespread opposition to the dam from environmentalists, social activists and even Hollywood figures such as the director James Cameron, Altamira’s political leaders have been broadly supportive of Belo Monte in the past, arguing it could bring development to the region. Norte Energia, the consortium behind Belo Monte’s construction, is expected to appeal the decision. Wave, tidal and hydropower Brazil Energy Renewable energy Amazon rainforest Forests Deforestation Rivers Fishing Food Wildlife Conservation Animals Marine life Tom Phillips guardian.co.uk
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Belo Monte hydroelectric dam project halted after ruling that it risked damaging fish stocks on Xingu river A Brazilian judge has ordered construction to be suspended on a controversial hydroelectric dam in the Amazon. In his ruling, Judge Carlos Castro Martins said that all working on the Belo Monte dam that interfered with the natural course of the Xingu river should be halted because of the risk that fish stocks would be damaged. The £7bn dam would reputedly be the third largest in the world, after China’s Three Gorges and the Itaipu project on the Brazil-Paraguay border. The injunction is the latest development in a decades-long battle against the Belo Monte dam, plans for which were originally conceived in the mid-1970s but subsequently shelved after major protests. Brazil’s government argues that the dam is essential to the energy needs of the country’s booming economy. A full environmental licence for the construction was issued in June, with federal authorities promising a series of initiatives to lessen the social and environmental impact of the dam . But on Tuesday, activists from the anti-dam Xingu Para Sempre movement claimed the project had brought “unprecedented chaos” to the riverside town of Altamira, with thousands of impoverished migrants having arrived by boat or road in search of work. “Nothing good is coming to the region and all of our darkest prophesies are coming true,” Antonia Melo, one of the movement’s leaders, said. Earlier this week, politicians from Altamira’s townhall filed papers with the regional public prosecutor, asking for work on the dam to be interrupted. “The former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, publicly promised … that the project would bring major benefits to Altamira and 10 other towns around this mega-project,” the document said. “But what we have so far seen are painful frustrations such as increased poverty, insecurity and social chaos.” On Wednesday the judge issued his ruling to suspend building work. While there has long been widespread opposition to the dam from environmentalists, social activists and even Hollywood figures such as the director James Cameron, Altamira’s political leaders have been broadly supportive of Belo Monte in the past, arguing it could bring development to the region. Norte Energia, the consortium behind Belo Monte’s construction, is expected to appeal the decision. Wave, tidal and hydropower Brazil Energy Renewable energy Amazon rainforest Forests Deforestation Rivers Fishing Food Wildlife Conservation Animals Marine life Tom Phillips guardian.co.uk
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