Charity chief says that planned £500 weekly limit on amount families can claim will have huge human and social cost The government’s benefits cap could make more than 80,000 children homeless and push many thousands more into poverty, says the Children’s Society. In a devastating critique of the plan to limit the amount even the largest families can claim in benefits, Bob Reitemeier, its chief executive, said there would be a huge “human and social cost” if the reforms went ahead. The welfare reform bill, which proposes a £500 a week cap on the amount families can claim for housing, childcare and sustenance, is set to return to parliament in the House of Lords on Tuesday after making unsteady progress through the Commons earlier this year. The society says 200,000 children will have their lives affected by the changes to the amount their parents can claim and 27,600 adults and 82,400 children could be made homeless. While supporters of the benefits cap claim it would simply mean families would be forced to move into cheaper accommodation, government figures suggest 70% of those who will be hit are already living in social housing. Reitemeier said changes to the proposed legislation were urgently needed. “The reason we are so concerned about children is that three in four of the people that are going to be affected by the benefits cap are children and I don’t think that’s publicly understood”, he said. “There are some main concerns: one is that the children will be made homeless, possibly 80,000 children, which would be a significant change to their lives. “Secondly, what we think could happen is that those children already in poverty, below 60% of the median income line, will fall into severe poverty, less than 40% of the median income. This has a very human and social impact on their lives.” The Children’s Society also believes that children, who are nine times as likely as adults to be hit by the cap because of the prevalence of large families among those claiming benefits, will experience lower levels of wellbeing. It says it understands the element of unfairness in people who are on benefits having large families catered for, but that the government should ensure children do not suffer for their parents’ decisions. The £500 cap is based on the average annual household wage of £26,000. The charity proposes that instead the government should work out the level of the cap – the universal credit – by basing it on the average household income of working families with children, which would include in-work benefits. “Ideally we would say reverse the cap, but if it is a political agenda going forward then our view would be that the government should use average income, including in-work benefits for working families with children, to calculate the cap,” Reitemeier said. “That would change the cap from £500 [a week] to a higher amount.” It is understood the charity’s concerns are shared at the highest levels of the coalition government, particularly among Liberal Democrats. Last night Karen Buck MP, the shadow minister for welfare reform, said she could not understand why the government was moving ahead with its policy. She added: “The household benefit cap will punish children disproportionately and increase homelessness with all the human and economic costs that implies. Worse still, cuts in childcare reduce the capacity of families to make work pay and so avoid the cap. “We saw from leaked warnings this summer that the housing department fears that Department for Work and Pensions cuts will increase homelessness and now this is being confirmed. What is the point of policies which cost more than they save?” A spokeswoman for the DWP said that additional take up of benefits due to the simplicity of the new system would actually take half a million people out of poverty. She added: “Someone in work should be better off than someone on benefits – this is at the heart of our welfare reform. There must be a clear incentive to work. No one will be worse off as a result of Universal Credit.” Welfare Children Liberal-Conservative coalition Homelessness Child benefit Daniel Boffey guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The Script Kiddies have struck again: Hackers with the group got into the NBC News Twitter account and sent a series of fake tweets about a terror attack in New York City, reports the Naked Security blog. The FBI is investigating. The first tweet went up yesterday evening: “Breaking News!…
Continue reading …Relations between Egypt and Israel took another turn for the worse today, as Israel evacuated its ambassador and staff from Cairo amid protests, reports Reuters . The move came after demonstrators destroyed a protective wall outside the Israeli embassy, tore down the flag, then got inside and tossed documents out windows….
Continue reading …
• Email rob.smyth@guardian.co.uk with all your thoughts • Press F5 to refresh this page or use our auto-refresher • Click here for all today’s scores from around Britain and Europe 8 min Carrick has come on for Cleverley. That’s a bad blow for United, and sadly predictable given the way Kevin Davies usually plays against them. 7 min Rooney clears off the line from Eagles. In open play as well. A cross from the left wasn’t cleared; Bolton had a couple of attempts blocked and then a third, from Eagles, was booted away by Rooney, who had sensed danger and drifted back. Shades of Eric Cantona against Chelsea in 1996. Ah, in fact it was Ferdinand who cleared it, although Rooney was right alongside him. 6 min Cleverley has to go off because of that foul from Davies. Michael Carrick will replace him. GOAL! Bolton 0-1 Manchester United (Hernandez 5) A goal of devastating simplicity. Nani runs at Robinson down the right and really hammers a low, sidefooted cross towards the near post; Hernandez runs Cahill one way and then the other before nipping in front of Jaaskelainen to poke the ball in. That was a beautiful goal. 4 min It’s been all United so far, although everything has been in front of Bolton. Kevin Davies takes Tom Cleverley from behind, which has both managers on their feet complaining. 2 min “Rob, could you please explain what you mean by your remark ‘You don’t have to be a foreigner to get a culture shock in Bolton,” says Eric Hyland. I mean that the fibrous element of Bolton’s play is a shock to those who are unfamiliar with it – whether that person is David de Gea, Chris Smalling or Tom Cleverley. Is that okay? 1 min There’s a lively old atmosphere at Burnden Park. The camera hovers on David de Gea, inevitably. This will be an interesting 90 minutes for him, one way or another. United kick off from right to left. They are in red; Bolton are in white. Question of the day What’s going on with Gary Barlow’s hardass act ? From the man who wrote Back For Good, it’s more than a little unnerving. “Being born in a stable doesn’t make you a horse (as the Duke of Wellington noted when explaining why he – unlike Owen Coyle – chose to be British, not Irish)…” continues Duncan McDonnell. This could go on, and what fun that would be for our readers. “‘Owen Coyle, possibly the next great British manager’?” quotes Duncan McDonnell. “He played for Ireland Rob.” And what a lovely Irish accent this Paisley-born manager has. Team news Both sides make two changes from their last game. Bolton bring in Dedryck Boyata and Mark Davies for Gretar Steinsson and Fabrice Muamba. For United, Rio Ferdinand and Javier Hernandez replace Chris Smalling and Danny Welbeck. That means Phil Jones will move to right back. Bolton (4-4-2) Jaaskelainen; Boyata, Cahill, Knight, Robinson; Eagles, Mark Davies, Reo-Coker, Petrov; Klasnic, Kevin Davies. Subs: Bogdan, Muamba, Tuncay, Pratley, Ngog, Kakuta, Wheater. Man Utd (4-4-2) De Gea; Jones, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra; Nani, Cleverley, Anderson, Young; Rooney, Hernandez. Subs: Berbatov, Giggs, Smalling, Park, Carrick, Fabio, Lindegaard. Preamble Evening. If Stoke on a wet, windy night is seen as the acid test of a foreign footballer’s capacity to like it up him, then Bolton isn’t far behind – the Jamie MacDonald to Stoke’s Malcolm Tucker (or should that be the other way round?). Owen Coyle, possibly the next great British manager, has brought Bolton’s football into the 21st century, but he has also been smart enough to retain the fibrousness that has made Bolton such awkward opponents in the past decade. As such, this will be a cracking test for Manchester United’s infectious, intrepid young side. Not just David de Gea – who plays – but also the phalanx of young Englishmen who have been so impressive in the early weeks of the season. You don’t have to be a foreigner to get a culture shock in Bolton. Premier League 2011-12 Bolton Wanderers Manchester United Premier League Rob Smyth guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Protocols drawn up in the wake of the World Trade Centre attack gave Blair the authority to blow the plane up, he has revealed Tony Blair has revealed how he came close to ordering a passenger jet over UK airspace to be shot down “some time after” 9/11 because it was not responding to air traffic control. He said fighter jets had been prepared to take off after the plane “appeared to be deviating for the path it was in” and new protocols drawn up in the wake of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre gave him the authority to blow the plane up. “We were really not very far away from having to take a final decision as to whether to bring the plane down, because we had the provision to do that,” he said. Asked how close he came to giving the order to shoot it down. “It came quite close. It was a situation where I ended up talking directly to the officer who was in charge of the operation and trying to work out whether the plane in question was for some reason a mishap which obviously was the overwhelming likelihood, but what if it wasn’t?” he said in an interview with Jon Sopel on BBC World News. “It was an extremely frightening moment.” He said that fighter jets had been “prepared en route to take off” in readiness to intercept the jet, which was later found not to be a threat. Blair did not specify when the threat occurred, but said it was some time “later” in his premiership. Asked by Sopel whether he would have given the order to take it down, he said he probably would have not. “I don’t know. I think we had already passed the first threshold of when I was supposed to take the decision, and I was pushing it back as much as I could for obvious reasons, and I think probably in the end I would have taken the risk that indeed it was – as it turned out to be – that they had just lost touch with air traffic control because of the consequences of shooting it down and finding that it was [not a terrorist threat]. “There was at a later time when we then had to put in place a whole lot of protocols, frameworks for action in circumstances where you lost contact with a plane or a plane was not in proper contact with air traffic control,” he said. In the same interview, Blair says he believes the battle against terrorism will be “a generation-long struggle”. But he says the world has learned a lot in the 10 years since 9/11. “We have learned a lot about how to deal with the terrorist threat, we have also learned a lot about nation-building.” He said the Arab spring was a good thing and the most important country in the region was Egypt. Tony Blair September 11 2001 United States Global terrorism Lisa O’Carroll guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Britain braces itself for storms and floods as hurricane Katia approaches
September 10, 2011 No Comment
Winds of up to 80mph are predicted to hit north-west Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England Severe gales and flooding are expected to hit parts of the UK as hurricane Katia makes its way across the Atlantic. Winds of up to 80mph are predicted to hit north-west Scotland by Monday, with Northern Ireland, north Wales and northern England also likely to be affected. Forecaster Michael Dukes, of MeteoGroup UK, said: “It looks likely that this will be a significant storm event for mid-September. Strong winds have been predicted, which could result in trees coming down, causing major structural damage and travel delays. Inevitably, with the remnants of a tropical storm, there will also be a risk of flash flooding. “The hurricane is moving slowly at the moment and current predictions show that the remnants of the storm will hit north-west Scotland by Monday.” While it is rare for so-called “warm core” hurricanes to turn into “cold core” hurricanes crossing the Atlantic, rather than declining into a depression, unusual weather conditions have made hurricane Katia more threatening. The storm will hit the west coast of Ireland first. “This is on the way and it is a significant storm,” Met Éireann forecaster Gerry Murphy said. His organisation is predicting winds of 100mph, with the north seeing the worst winds. By the time Katia reaches the UK on Monday, it is expected to have declined from a category four hurricane – the maximum is five – to a strong post-tropical storm. On Saturday morning Katia remained a category one hurricane and was accelerating north-eastwards. It is expected to make landfall in Ireland around dawn on Monday. Tropical hurricanes are usually slow-moving phenomena, fuelled by warm seas and humid air, which fizzle out as they move north into the colder air of the Atlantic. In Katia’s case, however, it appears that unusually low-altitude and strengthening jet stream winds between North Carolina and New York are providing the storm with an oceanic conveyor belt, speeding its passage towards Ireland and the UK and allowing it to maintain an unusual intensity. Tom Tobler, of MeteoGroup, added: “It is looking like the storms will hit early on Monday morning, with the most severe weather coming in the middle of the day. Gusts of over 60mph will be seen quite widely over northern and central Scotland and Northern Ireland and even down into northern England. “The maximum gusts in western Scotland could easily get up to 75 or 80mph and potentially it could get above that. It could cause disruption and uproot trees, especially as they still have a lot of leaves on, being early autumn.” Forecasters say the predicted high winds could coincide with high tides and western coasts in particular are at risk from localised flooding. An Environment Agency spokesman said: “At present there is a low risk of flooding across the north coast of Wales and the north-west coast of England during Monday from strong to gale force winds, large waves and a surge which coincides with a period of spring tides.” Weather Flooding Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Ireland United States New York Peter Beaumont guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
• Email john.ashdown@guardian.co.uk with your musings • Press F5 to refresh this page or use our auto-refresher • Holler at John on Twitter if you are in to that sort of thing • Click here for all the latest scores across Europe 3.27pm: Port Vale, in their grey knickers, have gone 1-0 up against the hapless Plymouth. And in better news for the south coast, Southampton are now 2-1 up against Steve McClaren’s Nottingham Forest. 3.25pm: Finally, a bit of a breather. It’s been a hectic start. Everton, Manchester City, Stoke and Chelsea are ahead. The only game in the Premier League that is goalless is the affair at the Emirates. With 25 minutes gone things might start getting cranky there soon. 3.23pm: Palace have come from behind to lead 2-1 at Elland Road and in that big game in League Two I mentioned earlier Morecambe are 2-0 up against this morning’s leaders Crawley. 3.22pm: “‘Glanced wide by Bendtner – Who really should have done better,’ will probably be the name of his autobiography,” reckons Lucien Hoare. The place to be for shots on target, though, is Gigg Lane – it’s Bury 1-3 Rochdale with only a quarter of the game gone. 3.21pm: GOAL! Stoke 1-0 Liverpool (Walters 21pen) Against the run of play at the home side take the lead. Carragher concedes the spot-kick, Walters makes no mistake from the spot. 3.20pm: GOAL! Everton 1-0 Aston Villa (Osman 19) Can’t tell you how it happened I’m afraid, but the Toffees are one-up. 3.19pm: MISSED PENALTY! And Carlos Tevez is the culprit. Al Habsi makes the save, but it was a weak effort. 3.18pm: … GOAL! Sunderland 0-1 Chelsea (Terry 18) … the free-kick thwocks a post but Sunderland can’t clear and the ball breaks to Terry who smacks the ball home at the second attempt. Harsh on Sunderland, who’d been matching the visitors. 3.17pm: Anelka gets tripped on the edge of the box, giving Chelsea a very dangerous set-piece … 3.15pm: Arsenal are this close to going ahead at the Emirates. Walcott beats the keeper but his shot is cleared off the line by Caulker. 3.14pm: Stunning save from Friedel keeps Tottenham on level terms at Molineux. There’s goalmouth action all over the place thus far. 3.13pm: GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Wigan (Aguero 13) The Argentinian duo combine up front for City – Tevez sets up Aguero for the opening goal of the game. 3.11pm: Sunderland have a dangerous free-kick at the Stadium of Light – whipped in by Cattermole, glanced wide by Bendtner who really should have done better. It was a free header, 10 yards out. 3.11pm: Arteta is on set-piece duty for Arsenal – he whips in a corner that is cleared by Ashley Williams for the Swans. 3.10pm: And Southampton have equalised. And so have West Ham. So it’s as you were. 3.09pm: Goals in the Championship: Portsmouth are ahead at Upton Park, and Forest are 1-0 up at Southampton. 3.07pm: Stunning save from Szczesny keeps the scores level at the Emirates, with Graham close to poking Swansea into a surprise lead. 3.05pm: An early goal the A58 derby between Bury and Rochdale – the Dale are ahead at Gigg Lane. 3.03pm: Aaron Ramsey has missed an early chance at the Emirates. And Liverpool have started strongly at the Britannia Stadium. 3.01pm: What ho! Optimism alert! “I am an Arsenal fan and I am feeling thoroughly optimistic about the new signings,” writes Robert Murphy. “Today’s team, on paper at least, seems to have a balance and maturity that I haven’t seen in an Arsenal team for a long time. I predict a 3-0 Arsenal win. I should have learned by now, but I haven’t. Also, PG Wodehouse is the funniest writer I have ever read.” 2.55pm: Carlos Tevez has apparently taken his nippers on the pitch pre-match. They seem to have spent as much time on the pitch as their dad has of late. 2.51pm: From the Twittersphere: this is slightly troubling from Plymouth fan Jo Lumani. Port Vale will be facing Argyle at Home Park today wearing “grey jerseys and grey knickers” according to the teamsheet . 2.47pm: “Not all Everton fans agree, but I love a Wilsonesque 4-6-0,” writes Gary Naylor. “With Rodwell and Fellaini holding, I expect Osman, Coleman, Bily and Cahill to raid forward. Who picks up whom?” 2.41pm: The sun is shining at Molineux. Which is a good job for those in the not-yet-completed North Bank . Pre-kick-off email dept. “Never got into the TV version of Jeeves and Wooster,” writes Ed. “The idea of it is good – Fry and Laurie perfect casting etc. – but it just can’t emulate Wodehouse’s zip, pep and guile. Much like some team or other can’t emulate some other team or other, or something. Well, you fill in the football analogy bit.” “The Verve (from l-r),” begins Dan Poole. “Joe Cole with hair; Paolo Maldini after a month or two in Wigan; Harry Redknapp back in the day; Richard Dunne’s second cousin once removed. ” The gaffer , Sean Ingle, reckons the lay on Everton is the bet of the day today. He says put your house on it and he’ll personally refund anyone who loses money by following his advice.* *Please note: Sean will not personally refund personally refund anyone who loses money by following his advice. Man City v Wigan Man City: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Milner, Toure Yaya, Johnson, Silva, Aguero, Tevez. Subs: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Dzeko, Nasri, Toure, Balotelli, Razak. Wigan: Al Habsi, Boyce, Caldwell, Lopez, Figueroa, Rodallega, Diame, Watson, McArthur, Moses, Di Santo. Subs: Kirkland, McCarthy, Crusat, Gomez, Sammon, Jones, Stam. Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire) Arsenal v Swansea Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Ramsey, Frimpong, Arteta, Arshavin, Walcott, van Persie. Subs: Fabianski, Park, Andre Santos, Djourou, Chamakh, Benayoun, Coquelin. Swansea: Vorm, Rangel, Caulker, Williams, Taylor, Agustien, Britton, Allen, Sinclair, Dyer, Graham. Subs: Tremmel, Dobbie, Lita, Moore, Bessone, Gower, Richards. Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire) Sunderland v Chelsea Sunderland: Mignolet, Bardsley, Bramble, Brown, Richardson, Larsson, Cattermole, Gardner, Colback, Sessegnon, Bendtner. Subs: Westwood, Wickham, Vaughan, Ji, Turner, Elmohamady, McClean. Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Mata, Lampard, Ramires, Meireles, Sturridge, Anelka. Subs: Hilario, Luiz, Torres, Malouda, Kalou, McEachran, Romeu. Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire) Stoke v Liverpool Stoke: Begovic, Huth, Shawcross, Upson, Wilson, Pennant, Delap, Whitehead, Etherington, Walters, Crouch. Subs: Sorensen, Whelan, Jones, Wilkinson, Shotton, Jerome, Palacios. Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Skrtel, Agger, Jose Enrique, Kuyt, Adam, Lucas, Henderson, Downing, Suarez. Subs: Doni, Johnson, Carroll, Maxi, Coates, Spearing, Bellamy. Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear) Wolverhampton v Tottenham Wolverhampton: Hennessey, Stearman, Johnson, Berra, Ward, Kightly, Henry, O’Hara, Hunt, Doyle, Fletcher. Subs: De Vries, Elokobi, Hammill, Milijas, Vokes, Foley, Jarvis. Tottenham: Friedel, Walker, King, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, Kranjcar, Parker, Modric, Bale, Adebayor, Defoe. Subs: Cudicini, Bassong, Livermore, Pavlyuchenko, Townsend, Falque, Giovani. Referee: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire) Everton v Aston Villa Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Distin, Baines, Coleman, Fellaini, Rodwell, Bilyaletdinov, Osman, Cahill. Subs: Mucha, Drenthe, Stracqualursi, Neville, Gueye, Barkley, Vellios. Aston Villa: Given, Hutton, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Petrov, Delph, N’Zogbia, Agbonlahor, Heskey, Bent. Subs: Guzan, Ireland, Albrighton, Delfouneso, Clark, Bannan, Herd. Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland) 2.17pm: In fact, Andre Villas Boas’s team selection is very interesting: Sturridge, Mata and Meireles all start . 2.14pm: Villas Boas has made good on his threat – Torres drops to the bench for Chelsea. 2.10pm: Parker starts for Spurs, Falque on the bench, while Jenas isn’t in the Villa squad at Goodison Park. Full details shortly. 2.07pm: At Manchester City: “Edin Dzeko left out after playing two full games for Bosnia, Aguero played 9 and 14 mins for Argentina, Tevez had week off” writes our man Daniel Taylor on Twitter. The City team: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Y Toure, Milner, Johnson, Silva, Aguero, Tevez 2.05pm: Some early team news from the Emirates: Arteta starts, as does Mertesacker. Preamble What-ho clockwatchers, all. Hope you’re in fine fettle. Me? In the pink, old fruit, in the pink. Though I feel I may have been watching too many episodes of Jeeves and Wooster just recently. So what have we got to look forward to in the 3pm Premier League kick-offs? Stoke v Liverpool Everton v Aston Villa Manchester City v Wigan Wolves v Tottenham Sunderland v Chelsea Arsenal v Swansea It’s an intriguing set of fixtures . Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham will all do well to pick up three points, Everton against Villa is a tough one to call and Arsenal really must, must beat Swansea. Further down the leagues Crawley’s trip to Morecambe is a meeting of two pace-setters in League Two, Sheffield Wednesday v MK Dons and Huddersfield v Tranmere are highlights in League One and West Ham v Portsmouth and Southampton v Forest are worth keeping an eye on in the Championship. Speaking of Arsenal, as I was a sentence or so agho, I cycled past the Emirates on my way into the office this morning, with the fans already milling about near Finsbury Park or making their way to the ground. Spotted one newly-bought shirt with “ARTETA 10″ on the back, and another emblazoned with the words “YOU CAN’T BUY HISTORY”, which was either a) a rather pricey way, given the cost of letters on the back of shirts, of having a dig at Manchester City or b) being worn by a man who works in a record shop that sells nothing but Verve singles and has grown tired of telling customers when certain LPs are out of stock. I like to think it was the latter, and that he has an away kit with “YOU CAN’T BUY LUCKY MAN” on the back and a goalkeeper’s jersey saying “RICHARD ASHCROFT? SORRY WE DON’T DO SOLO STUFF. PLEASE LEAVE. AND LEAVE NOW”. Premier League Championship League One League Two John Ashdown guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Frantic search is underway for survivors after boat capsizes off east Africa carrying more than 500 passengers At least 107 people drowned when a ferry capsized in rough waters off east Africa as it sailed from Zanzibar to Pemba island, a doctor told Reuters on Saturday, the worst disaster in the archipelago’s recent history. Witnesses fear the death toll could rise sharply since the overcrowded ferry was carrying more than 500 passengers. Fishing boats and tour operators are scouring the sea for scores of people who are still missing after the disaster, which happened overnight. “Many of us got here about 2.30 this morning,” Suleiman Amis, 32, who works on a local diving tour boat, told Reuters. “We sent out some boats to search for the survivors, but we did not find them until very, very late. We have friends who we know were on that boat and we want to go back out to find them as soon as possible,” Amis said. Zanzibar and Pemba are the two main islands of the Zanzibar archipelago, a popular destination for tourists visiting their pristine Indian Ocean beaches. “The ship’s manifest shows that the vessel travelling from Unguja to Pemba islands had more than 500 passengers on board,” said Zanzibar police commissioner Mussa Alli Mussa. “Some 260 passengers have so far been rescued … we have recovered several bodies but I can’t give you the exact death toll at the moment because the situation is very volatile,” he added. Tanzania Africa guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Tony Blair knew immediately that 9/11 terror attacks ‘changed everything’
September 10, 2011 No Comment
Blair’s ex-chief of staff Jonathan Powell says former prime minister became ‘very steely, very focused’ after attacks on US Tony Blair became “very steely, very focused” immediately after the September 11 attacks, his former chief of staff said today. In an interview marking 10 years since 9/11, Jonathan Powell told BBC Breakfast: “He realised that things had changed. Many people took longer to get there. “A lot of people didn’t realise quite how much this changed attitudes in America. For them, it was another Pearl Harbour. It changed everything.” Blair was in Brighton on the day preparing for a speech for a TUC conference. He was alone in a room making final tweaks when an aid interrupted him and told him there was something he must watch on TV. After the second plane crashed into the twin towers, he knew it was a terrorist attack. “He really became very steely, very focused. I think he was the first on television to express our sympathy as a country, but also the world’s sympathy with the United States and to stand alongside them,” said Powell. “Many Americans still remember what he said at the time and that’s why he’s still quite popular in the US because he stood out there and said what the world thought about it.” Meanwhile, Powell said that Downing Street was unable to contact President Bush until the day after the terrorists struck. Bush was “a very shaken man”, he said. “He wasn’t sure what to do. His voice was quavering. He was in a state almost of shock.” In a separate interview with the Radio 4 Today programme on Saturday, Blair insisted “significant blows” had been struck in the war on terror but admitted, “it’s not over”. Speaking from his London home on the eve of 9/11, he defended the actions he took in the wake of the atrocity and said it was “deeply naive” to believe the response of the west had radicalised extremist Muslim factions. He said radicals “believe in what they believe in because they believe their religion compels them to believe in it”. He told the terrorism threat would only end when “we defeat the ideology”. “I think it will take a generation, but the way to defeat this ideology ultimately is by a better idea, and we have it, which is a way of life based on openness, democracy, freedom and the rule of law.” September 11 2001 United States Global terrorism Tony Blair Jonathan Powell George Bush Terrorism policy guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Rebels advancing on the town of Bani Walid come under rocket attacks from hundreds of soldiers loyal to Gaddafi Anti-Gaddafi forces are closing in on one of the four towns still controlled by the Libyan dictator but are meeting fierce resistance from up to 1,000 fighters. Rebel fighters launched an assault on the town of Bani Walid on Friday and had hoped to capture it overnight but they were hit with rocket attacks. Despite the bombardment, columns of vehicles drove toward the frontline, with fighters in pick-up trucks shaking their fists in the air and shouting “Here come the Libyans.” “We are going in today,” Abdullah Kanshil, an official of the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC), told reporters outside the town, 150 km (95 miles) south-east of Tripoli. “Civilians will be protected. We are already inside the city and we have found rocket launchers in the houses. We have thousands of fighters,” he said. Kanshil said about 1,000 soldiers loyal to Gaddafi were defending the town – many more than the 150 previously estimated. “They are launching Grad rockets from private houses so Nato (warplanes) cannot do anything about it,” he said. Heavy fighting erupted around Bani Walid and the coastal city of Sirte, Gaddafi’s birthplace, on Friday, a day before the deadline for a negotiated surrender set by the NTC. NTC officials said the truce was effectively over, paving the way for what could prove the final battles of a civil war that evolved from February’s popular uprising against Gaddafi. He said he believed hundreds of “extremely professional” soldiers from all parts of the country were defending the town. Akram Ramadan, a fighter outside Bani Walid, said after overnight skirmishes: “Gaddafi gangs are resisting very hard, they have mercenaries, volunteers and snipers.” Libya Middle East Muammar Gaddafi Africa Lisa O’Carroll guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …