Shadow defence secretary calls on government to widen investigation into links with Adam Werritty, despite resignation The inquiry into Liam Fox’s relationship with Adam Werritty should continue despite the defence secretary’s decision to step down, Labour says. The shadow defence secretary, Jim Murphy, has called on the government to widen the investigation to include a broader investigation of rules governing ministerial conduct. He told the BBC that there were still many unanswered questions, such as who paid for Werrity to fly around the world with the defence secretary and whether they benefited from it in any improper way. “What is the flow of money?” asked Murphy. “Liam treated Adam Werritty as a good friend. Adam Werritty seems to have treated Liam Fox like some sort of franchise to make money from. David Cameron’s hopes that Fox’s resignation on Friday will have drawn a line under the affair were dashed by a deluge of fresh claims about Werritty’s financial affairs. The Daily Mail claimed that Fox had solicited a donation from a company financing Werritty’s activities while he was defence secretary – the most damaging allegation yet. Venture capitalist and millionaire Jon Moulton revealed that Fox approached him after the general election seeking funds for a company, Pargav, set up by Werritty. Moulton told the Times: “Before the election, I had made several, on the record, donations to support Dr Fox following a request from the Conservative party fundraiser. “After the election I was asked by Dr Fox to provide funds to a non-profit group called Pargav involved in security policy analysis and research and after obtaining written assurances as to its activities I provided personal funding to Pargav,” he added. It emerged on Friday that Werritty was the hidden hand behind Pargav, a not-for-profit company which had received funding from six different entities including Moulton and another investment company with links to an organisation that lobbies on behalf of Israel. Moulton insisted that he did not seek or receive any benefits from the Tories as a result of his financial largesse. “Neither I, nor any of my associates, have sought or received any benefit of any form from Pargav. I have not received an account of Pargav’s activities, nor have I been involved at all with Pargav since funding. He added: “I will not be doing this again.” Pressure continued to mount on Fox as it emerged that Lord Bell, PR consultant and one of Fox’s oldest friends, was present when an employee of one of his clients passed bank account details to the Times, which revealed how Pargav was funded. According to the Daily Mail Boulton bought a defence company eight months before giving money to Pargav. In February 2010, Moulton reportedly paid £60m for Gardner UK, which makes components for aircraft including RAF fighter jets and troop transporters. He reportedly gave a sum of up to £35,000 to Pargav in October of that year. The cabinet secretary, Gus O’Donnell, who is heading the internal inquiry to the Fox affair was due to publish his report next week. However Murphy said the goalposts had changed and this inquiry now needed to switch focus. “So we need to know as part of the inquiry just where’s the money? Why has Liam resigned? Let’s continue to carry out the investigation and if need be, broaden the investigation further.” Liam Fox Labour Lisa O’Carroll guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The case of Robert Finn, a Catholic bishop who has been charged with covering up suspected child abuse, is the first of its kind in America A bishop has become the highest-ranking US Catholic official indicted on a charge of failing to protect children after he and his diocese waited five months to tell police about hundreds of images of child pornography discovered on a priest’s computer. Bishop Robert Finn, the first US bishop criminally charged with sheltering an abusive clergyman, and the Kansas City-St Joseph Catholic Diocese have pleaded not guilty on one count each of failing to report suspected child abuse. Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said Finn and the diocese were required under state law to report the discovery to police because the images gave them reason to believe a child had been abused. “Now that the grand jury investigation has resulted in this indictment, my office will pursue this case vigorously,” Baker said. “I want to ensure there are no future failures to report resulting in other unsuspecting victims.” The indictment, handed down 6 October but sealed because Finn was out of the country, says the bishop failed to report suspicions against the priest from 16 December, 2010, when the photos were discovered, to 11 May, 2011, when the diocese turned them over to police. Finn denied any wrongdoing in a statement on Friday and said he had begun work to overhaul the diocese’s reporting policies and act on key findings of a diocese-commissioned investigation into its practices. “Today, the Jackson County Prosecutor issued these charges against me personally and against the Diocese of Kansas City-St Joseph,” said Finn. “For our part, we will meet these announcements with a steady resolve and a vigorous defence.” Finn faces a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted of the misdemeanour. The diocese also faces a $1,000 fine. After the Catholic sex abuse scandal erupted in 2002, grand juries in several regions reviewed how bishops handled claims against priests. However, most of the allegations were decades old and far beyond the statute of limitations. Until Finn was indicted, no US Catholic bishop had been criminally charged over how he responded to abuse claims, although some bishops had struck deals with local authorities to avoid prosecution against their dioceses. A former secretary for clergy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Monsignor William Lynn, was charged in February with child endangerment. A grand jury had released a report accusing the archdiocese of keeping some credibly accused clergy in church jobs where they had access to children. Lynn has pleaded not guilty. The grand jury report in Philadelphia and the case in Kansas City have raised questions about how closely other dioceses are following the national discipline policy the US bishops adopted in 2002. Church leaders had promised to remove all credibly accused clergy from church work. United States Religion Catholicism guardian.co.uk
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• Press refresh or turn on the auto-update for the latest • Email scott.murray@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts • Watch World Cup video highlights, interviews and more 10 min: A big blow for Wales: a jiggered looking Adam Jones is replaced by Paul James. 8 min: PENALTY! Wales 3-0 France. A delicious kick by James Hook, from tight on the left touchline by the 22. He sets the ball slightly out right, curling it back in between the sticks. That never looked like missing, and will hopefully settle his nerves. If he has any, because that was ice cool. 7 min: Dusautoir is offside as both teams scrabble for the ball down the left after a clever chip down the left by Hook. That’s a penalty within kicking range. “Good morning from Wales,” begins Dr Alimantado. Morning. “The Smiths’ ‘A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours’ seems most appropriate. I’m not sure how to feel today. Wales good at sports is unpossible.” 4 min: Servat breaks down the left, making up plenty of ground. He’s upended, but Yachvili finds touch down by the Welsh 22. Warburton ensures the French can’t build on the field position by clearing upfield. Nothing quite coming off for either side yet. 2 min: Wales win their lineout just outside the French 22, but soon enough Toby Faletau knocks on. Then the Welsh pack goes south in the scrum, and the early pressure is off the French. And we’re off! The first World Cup semi-final is ON, and Wales are 80 minutes away from their first World Cup final! The rain has stopped, and Wales lump the ball straight downfield. Dimitri Yachvili, with his dodgy leg, hacks out down the left. He doesn’t get much distance on the kick, giving Wales good field position right from the off. “I saw a highlights package of the 1987 RWC recently,” begins Gary Naylor unsurprisingly, “and England’s quarter final appeared to be played in a Brisbane public park. Conversions were landing amongst picnickers.” The teams are out. The Mulligan and O’Hare tribute act parps his horn. Then the anthems. First, La Marseillaise . And then the Welsh one the Welsh one . The weather in Auckland: It is tipping down . Handling errors ahoy! Let’s hope it doesn’t get too tempestuous, or this’ll end up looking like England versus Scotland. Redressing the balance re Huw Richards: “Come now, we all know Huw was sent off for trying to use Gary Whetton as a punching bag,” writes our Kiwi pal Sean Carless. “Buck merely put a stop to the nonsense with a wee lovetap.” Venue: The 60,000 capacity Eden Park in Auckland. Kick off: 9am BST. Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland) France: Medard, Clerc, Rougerie, Mermoz, Palisson, Parra, Yachvili, Poux, Servat, Mas, Pape, Nallet, Dusautoir, Bonnaire, Harinordoquy. Replacements: Szarzewski, Barcella, Pierre, Ouedraogo, Trinh-Duc, Doussain, Heymans. Wales: Halfpenny, North, J. Davies, Roberts, S. Williams, Hook, Phillips, Jenkins, Bennett, A. Jones, Charteris, A. Jones, Lydiate, Warburton, Faletau. Replacements: Burns, James, B. Davies, R. Jones, L. Williams, S. Jones, S. Williams. One thing is certain: this is massive . And we’ll be hearing the best two national anthems in the tournament today. That’s two things, isn’t it. Three if you’re counting each anthem. Wales made the semis of the World Cup that year, having seen off England 16-3 in the quarter-finals, a match worth watching again simply for the appalling kicking on display, a ludicrous number of attempts on goal being shanked straight out of play down the wings. They were trounced 49-6 by the hosts and eventual winners New Zealand – Huw Richards was sent off for being clapped around the jaw by Wayne Shelford – but won the third-placed play-off against Australia 22-21. It remains their best performance in a World Cup. But the 24-year wait is over: they’re in the semis again, and today have the chance to go one better. 1987 was a hell of a long time ago. Ronald Reagan was president of the USA. Everton were the football champions of England. The Smiths split up. And if all that doesn’t make you feel so very old, or smugly young, this is the killer: you’d still have to wait another two years to watch the original transmission of the Only Fools and Horses episode where Del falls through the bar . Rugby World Cup 2011 Wales rugby union team France rugby union team Rugby union Scott Murray guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Rapper Rick Ross suffered a seizure mid-flight this morning en route to a concert, forcing his plane to make an emergency landing in Florida. He checked out of the hospital, got back on his jet, and vowed to make his show in Memphis. Then he had another seizure and had…
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A huge improvement by Warren Gatland’s young side since the Six Nations has left them a game away from the World Cup final Toby Faletau is a man of very few words, which is why he was presumably the only player in Wales’s starting lineup made available to the media on the eve of the semi-final against France. The 20-year-old No8 did reveal, in between pauses, that he listened to Kings of Leon on the day of a match to help him relax, and the American band’s album Youth and Young Manhood could serve as a soundtrack to the odyssey of the men in red in New Zealand. Wales arrived here last month unfancied and almost unnoticed, despite victories over England and Argentina in August. Although they had won three of their matches in the Six Nations, they were a functional side, as the statistics from the tournament showed. Wales kicked more than any other side, made the fewest passes, had the worst ruck clearance percentage, conceded the most penalties and made the fewest visits to an opponent’s
Continue reading …Gigantic piles of brown seaweed that reek of rotten eggs are piling up on beaches in the eastern Caribbean, forcing resorts to shut down and keeping swimmers from the ocean. The stinky, bug-infested algae—named Sargassum—has been creeping up shores in Antigua, St. Maarten, and other Caribbean hotspots since…
Continue reading …Anita Perry made headlines yesterday when she complained that she and her husband had been “brutalized” of late because of their faith. (Her husband supported her statement today on ABC .) She was back in headline-making mode today, this time blaming the Obama administration for her son’s job loss, reports…
Continue reading …Vice President Clint Eastwood? It was at least a possibility in 1988 when George HW Bush was considering running mates, reports the Note blog at ABC News. Two factors helped: Eastwood at the time was the Republican mayor of Carmel, California, and Bush was getting clobbered in the polls by…
Continue reading …Americans can now legally hop a plane in Key West and skip over to Cuba: The US government has given the green light to Key West International Airport to run charter flights to the communist state 90 miles away, reports the Huffington Post . Restrictions do remain: Havana-bound flights are limited…
Continue reading …The Obama administration says it is unable to go forward with a major program in the president’s signature health care overhaul law—a long-term care insurance plan. Officials said today the long-term care program has critical design flaws that can’t be fixed to make it financially self-sustaining. Health and Human…
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