The number of reported air traffic controller errors have jumped, along with the number of unauthorized planes, people or vehicles on runways, according to a government report released yesterday. Incidents of planes flying too close to one another have nearly doubled in the last three years due to controller mistakes…
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Protesters take to streets after Friday prayers to support army defectors and call for the president’s downfall Thousands of Syrians have poured into the streets calling for the downfall of the president, Bashar al-Assad, and expressing support for army defectors fighting the regime, activists say. The protests came as the UN’s top human rights official urged the international community to take “immediate measures” to protect civilians in Syria. The country’s protest movement gave its most explicit show of support so far to army defectors who have reportedly clashed with loyalists in northern and central Syria in an increasing militarisation of the seven-month uprising. The Syria-based activist Mustafa Osso and the Local Co-ordination Committees, an activist group, said the protests had spread from the suburbs of the capital, Damascus, to the southern province of Deraa, the northern provinces of Aleppo, Idlib and Hassakeh, and the central regions of Homs and Hama, as well as to other areas. The opposition had called for protests after Friday prayers in support of the “free officers”, in reference to army defectors who have been fighting regime troops over the past weeks. Clashes between troops and gunmen believed to be defectors left at least 25 people dead on Thursday, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The uprising against Assad’s regime began in mid-March amid a wave of anti-government protests in the Arab world that toppled autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Assad has responded with a fierce crackdown. In Geneva, Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, warned that the unrelenting crackdown by the government could worsen unless further action is taken. She said the death toll from seven months of anti-government unrest in the country had risen above 3,000. “The onus is on all members of the international community to take protective action in a collective and decisive manner, before the continual ruthless repression and killings drive the country into a full-blown civil war,” Pillay said in a statement. She didn’t elaborate on what measures the international community could take beyond the sanctions already imposed on Assad’s regime. Her spokesman, Rupert Colville, told reporters in Geneva that it was up to the UN security council to decide what action was appropriate. But he added: “What has been done so far is not producing results and people continue to be killed every single day. “Just hoping things will get better isn’t good enough, clearly.” The UN human rights office estimates that more than 3,000 people have been killed since mid-March – about 10 to 15 people every day. The figure includes at least 187 children. More than 100 people had been killed in the past 10 days alone, it said. Colville said hundreds more protesters had been arrested, detained, tortured and disappeared. Families of anti-government protesters inside and outside the country have also been targeted for harassment. Syria Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Human beings’ very first “proto” language may have sounded more like Yoda-speak than the English we use today. Researchers believe all language derived from one spoken some 50,000 years ago in east Africa. Now scientists are making a case that the first language followed a “subject-object-verb” order, as in…
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His parents expected him to get a job with Mitsubishi. Instead Haruki Murakami married young, bought a
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Munir Yakub Patel admits keeping details of a traffic summons off a court database in return for £500 A magistrates court clerk who was paid not to record a driving offence has become the first person to be convicted under anti-bribery legislation introduced this summer. Munir Yakub Patel, 22, agreed to exploit his position as an administrative clerk at Redbridge magistrates court in east London by keeping details of a traffic summons off a court database in exchange for £500. Patel, of Dagenham, Essex, admitted the charge at Southwark crown court. He admitted one count of bribery and one count of misconduct in a public office after being caught on film by a national newspaper in August. The misconduct charge stated that between 23 February 2009 and August this year Patel gave people advice about how to avoid being summoned to court for similar offences. He denied seven counts of possession of an article for use in fraud. He was found with photocopied blank receipts for a garage but the charges were left to lie on file. The Sun newspaper filmed him arranging the bribe with Jayraj Singh, who had been given a speeding penalty. In court, Patel, wearing a grey suit, spoke only to confirm his name and age and plead to the charges. His barrister, Janice Johnson, said he was a man of previous good character. Outside court, Gaon Hart, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Public corruption is an extremely serious offence that undermines public faith in the integrity of those who work in the criminal justice system. “Public servants are required to act with integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality but Patel’s actions could not have been further from each of these. “His conduct has brought into disrepute the criminal justice system as he sought to undermine the very laws which he was employed to uphold.” He added: “This prosecution is the first of its kind under the Bribery Act 2010, which has provided a significant weapon in the armoury of prosecutors that enables us to focus on the bribery element rather than general misconduct behaviour. “We will continue to target those who act corruptly purely for personal gain and tailor the charge to reflect their wrongdoing.” Prosecutions under the act have to be authorised by either the director of public prosecutions or the director of the Serious Fraud Office. At the time of the Bribery Act’s drafting, it was thought that its main purpose was to deter corruption among British companies operating abroad and prevent them offering inducements to obtain lucrative contracts. The maximum sentence under the act is 10 years in prison. Patel was bailed until 11 November when he will be sentenced. Judge John Price warned him that he may face immediate custody. The Bribery Act did not outlaw offering hospitality to customers but it confirmed that facilitation payments are illegal. It is a full defence for companies to show that they have adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery. Bribery Act UK criminal justice Crime London Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Hard times elsewhere haven’t done any damage to Google’s bottom line. The company has announced a whopping 26% year-on-year jump in profits for the third quarter of this year, with net income of $2.73 billion on nearly $10 billion revenue, most of it from advertising, the BBC reports. “The…
Continue reading …Home Office rejects decriminalising possession of drugs for personal use
October 14, 2011 No Comment
Official advisory body says better to educate and apply civil sanctions rather than fine or imprison users The Home Office has quickly rejected a call from the government’s official drug advisers to decriminalise the personal possession of all illegal drugs, including heroin and cocaine. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has said it would be better if the tens of thousands of people caught with illicit drugs were sent on drug education and awareness courses rather than punished with fines and other penalties, up to imprisonment. But the Home Office has rejected the advice, a spokesman saying on Friday: “We have no intention of liberalising our drugs laws. Drugs are illegal because they are harmful – they destroy lives and cause untold misery to families and communities. “Those caught in the cycle of dependency must be supported to live drug-free lives, but giving people a green light to possess drugs through decriminalisation is clearly not the answer. “We are taking action through tough enforcement, both inland and abroad, alongside introducing temporary banning powers and robust treatment programmes that lead people into drug-free recovery.” The ACMD suggested that it would save the police, courts, probation and prison services the millions of pounds currently spent dealing with drug users and enable them to be assessed for treatment rather than given criminal records. The drug advisers’ recommendation was made in evidence this year to a consultation by the Sentencing Council on new guidelines on how the courts should deal with drug offences. “For people found to be in possession of (any) drug for personal use (and in involved in no other criminal offences), they should not be processed through the criminal justice system but instead diverted into drug education/awareness courses,” the ACMD said. The advisers suggested that confiscating driving licences and passports may be more effective as civil sanctions than imposing criminal penalties: “Such approaches may be more effective in reducing repeat offending,” they said. The call by the ACMD made earlier this summer echoes the vote by the Liberal Democrat conference to endorse a similar decriminalisation approach to personal possession. Portugal became the first European country in 2001 to replace criminal penalties for possession with administrative fines, similar to parking tickets, combined with treatment and education courses. Drugs UK criminal justice Police Health Conservative and Liberal Democrat cabinet Conservatives Liberal Democrats Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Home Office rejects decriminalising possession of drugs for personal use
October 14, 2011 No Comment
Official advisory body says better to educate and apply civil sanctions rather than fine or imprison users The Home Office has quickly rejected a call from the government’s official drug advisers to decriminalise the personal possession of all illegal drugs, including heroin and cocaine. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has said it would be better if the tens of thousands of people caught with illicit drugs were sent on drug education and awareness courses rather than punished with fines and other penalties, up to imprisonment. But the Home Office has rejected the advice, a spokesman saying on Friday: “We have no intention of liberalising our drugs laws. Drugs are illegal because they are harmful – they destroy lives and cause untold misery to families and communities. “Those caught in the cycle of dependency must be supported to live drug-free lives, but giving people a green light to possess drugs through decriminalisation is clearly not the answer. “We are taking action through tough enforcement, both inland and abroad, alongside introducing temporary banning powers and robust treatment programmes that lead people into drug-free recovery.” The ACMD suggested that it would save the police, courts, probation and prison services the millions of pounds currently spent dealing with drug users and enable them to be assessed for treatment rather than given criminal records. The drug advisers’ recommendation was made in evidence this year to a consultation by the Sentencing Council on new guidelines on how the courts should deal with drug offences. “For people found to be in possession of (any) drug for personal use (and in involved in no other criminal offences), they should not be processed through the criminal justice system but instead diverted into drug education/awareness courses,” the ACMD said. The advisers suggested that confiscating driving licences and passports may be more effective as civil sanctions than imposing criminal penalties: “Such approaches may be more effective in reducing repeat offending,” they said. The call by the ACMD made earlier this summer echoes the vote by the Liberal Democrat conference to endorse a similar decriminalisation approach to personal possession. Portugal became the first European country in 2001 to replace criminal penalties for possession with administrative fines, similar to parking tickets, combined with treatment and education courses. Drugs UK criminal justice Police Health Conservative and Liberal Democrat cabinet Conservatives Liberal Democrats Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
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The Italian PM’s embattled government survives after winning an absolute majority – of one Silvio Berlusconi’s embattled government scraped through a confidence vote on Friday, winning what even one of his own deputies called a “pyrrhic victory”. The 316 to 301 result left him with an absolute majority of just one in the lower house of the Italian parliament. But it was a better outcome than had been feared minutes earlier as three of the prime minister’s supporters unexpectedly announced they were deserting him. Constitutionally, Berlusconi could have survived with a simple majority of votes cast. But government whips wanted an outright majority to stem mounting dissidence within the ranks of the prime minister’s Freedom People (PdL) movement and convince the electorate that his administration could continue to govern. Recent weeks have seen the emergence of a rebel faction, led by Claudio Scajola, a former minister. Though Scajola, who resigned in an alleged corruption scandal last year, voted for the government, several of his fellow rebels decided to abstain. Among others who abandoned Berlusconi was Santo Versace, the brother of the designers Donatella and the late Gianni Versace. With majority whips alternately cajoling and haranguing doubters, everything possible was done to bring out the vote in favour of the prime minister and his beleaguered administration. One of Berlusconi’s deputies went through the division lobby on crutches with a leg in plaster. The prime minister sought the confidence vote after his government failed on Tuesday to secure approval for the 2010 public accounts. Berlusconi has been struggling to get legislation through the lower house ever since last year when his former lieutenant, Gianfranco Fini, walked out of his party, taking with him several other deputies previously loyal to the government. Before the vote, Italy’s billionaire prime minister had appealed to the chamber to back him, saying Italy needed stability at a time of economic crisis. But his pledge to battle on helped send share prices tumbling on the Milan stock exchange and raised the already unsustainably high interest rate on Italian government debt. The reaction in the markets was a clear sign that investors are less concerned now about stability than government paralysis. With a fragile majority and his credibility in shreds because of the numerous scandals and trials in which he is involved, Berlusconi has appeared incapable of reacting effectively to the simmering debt crisis in the eurozone. Many of the potential rebels among his followers and allies would nevertheless prefer to bring him down in January. That would open the way for an election in the spring – a better moment than mid-winter for persuading sceptical voters Italy can make a new start under the right. Berlusconi returned to power in 2008 promising his government would never “put its hands in the pockets of the Italian people”. But as the eurozone debt crisis has spread, it has been forced to approve a string of austerity packages that have raised taxes and other levies, including VAT. The austerity packages may reduce the government deficit. But they risk constraining Italy’s already weak potential for economic growth. Berlusconi’s government has so far been unable to come up with a credible plan for reanimating the economy. Its policy – or lack of one – has been fiercely criticised by both trade unions and employers’ groups. One of Berlusconi’s serving ministers, Giancarlo Galan, who holds the culture and heritage portfolio, said he wanted to see the prime minister embark on a programme of reforms to free up the economy. “If he doesn’t manage it, it would be better to have elections,” he told a local newspaper. The president, Giorgio Napolitano, has said he will not dissolve parliament for as long as Berlusconi’s government enjoys the confidence of parliament. In an effort to underline the seriousness of the political crisis in Italy, the main opposition parties boycotted Berlusconi’s speech to the house on Thursday. Silvio Berlusconi Italy Europe John Hooper guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The Italian PM’s embattled government survives after winning an absolute majority – of one Silvio Berlusconi’s embattled government scraped through a confidence vote on Friday, winning what even one of his own deputies called a “pyrrhic victory”. The 316 to 301 result left him with an absolute majority of just one in the lower house of the Italian parliament. But it was a better outcome than had been feared minutes earlier as three of the prime minister’s supporters unexpectedly announced they were deserting him. Constitutionally, Berlusconi could have survived with a simple majority of votes cast. But government whips wanted an outright majority to stem mounting dissidence within the ranks of the prime minister’s Freedom People (PdL) movement and convince the electorate that his administration could continue to govern. Recent weeks have seen the emergence of a rebel faction, led by Claudio Scajola, a former minister. Though Scajola, who resigned in an alleged corruption scandal last year, voted for the government, several of his fellow rebels decided to abstain. Among others who abandoned Berlusconi was Santo Versace, the brother of the designers Donatella and the late Gianni Versace. With majority whips alternately cajoling and haranguing doubters, everything possible was done to bring out the vote in favour of the prime minister and his beleaguered administration. One of Berlusconi’s deputies went through the division lobby on crutches with a leg in plaster. The prime minister sought the confidence vote after his government failed on Tuesday to secure approval for the 2010 public accounts. Berlusconi has been struggling to get legislation through the lower house ever since last year when his former lieutenant, Gianfranco Fini, walked out of his party, taking with him several other deputies previously loyal to the government. Before the vote, Italy’s billionaire prime minister had appealed to the chamber to back him, saying Italy needed stability at a time of economic crisis. But his pledge to battle on helped send share prices tumbling on the Milan stock exchange and raised the already unsustainably high interest rate on Italian government debt. The reaction in the markets was a clear sign that investors are less concerned now about stability than government paralysis. With a fragile majority and his credibility in shreds because of the numerous scandals and trials in which he is involved, Berlusconi has appeared incapable of reacting effectively to the simmering debt crisis in the eurozone. Many of the potential rebels among his followers and allies would nevertheless prefer to bring him down in January. That would open the way for an election in the spring – a better moment than mid-winter for persuading sceptical voters Italy can make a new start under the right. Berlusconi returned to power in 2008 promising his government would never “put its hands in the pockets of the Italian people”. But as the eurozone debt crisis has spread, it has been forced to approve a string of austerity packages that have raised taxes and other levies, including VAT. The austerity packages may reduce the government deficit. But they risk constraining Italy’s already weak potential for economic growth. Berlusconi’s government has so far been unable to come up with a credible plan for reanimating the economy. Its policy – or lack of one – has been fiercely criticised by both trade unions and employers’ groups. One of Berlusconi’s serving ministers, Giancarlo Galan, who holds the culture and heritage portfolio, said he wanted to see the prime minister embark on a programme of reforms to free up the economy. “If he doesn’t manage it, it would be better to have elections,” he told a local newspaper. The president, Giorgio Napolitano, has said he will not dissolve parliament for as long as Berlusconi’s government enjoys the confidence of parliament. In an effort to underline the seriousness of the political crisis in Italy, the main opposition parties boycotted Berlusconi’s speech to the house on Thursday. Silvio Berlusconi Italy Europe John Hooper guardian.co.uk
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