Defence chiefs look to raise cash, selling SAS watches and armoured cars, aircraft carriers and kilts Good news for aspiring 007s: a whole raft of spy gear, including luxury watches, desert warfare camouflage jackets and the odd armoured vehicle is now available at knockdown prices as the Ministry of Defence tries to offload non-vital equipment and plug a hole in its budget. A range of expensive watches – some originally costing up to £5,000 – as well as an array of other items, from ships to Scottish military kilts, have been put on sale as the Mod tries to recoup a little money. Items for sale on the Defence Equipment & Sales website include a ladies Crystal Dior watch “set with 48 diamonds 0.24 carat, black lacquered dial, black rubber strap set with black sapphire crystal”, worth £4,000, a Raymond Weil Tango men’s watch with “Stainless steel case, black dial with red accented hands, luminous Arabic numbers, sapphire crystal glass”, that would normally retail at £1,000, and a men’s Maurice Lacroix three-dial chronograph watch with “Sapphire crystal scratch resistant glass, white square dial with luminous hands”, worth around £5,000. The watches are likely to have been bought for SAS and defence intelligence operatives working in overseas embassies to help them blend in at events attended by dignitaries and diplomats. But there are other less expensive, and more offbeat, items on offer at the unusual jumble sale. A mobile hydration system is a snip at £22.50, while new combat jackets ordered for the SAS can be had for £30, despite originally costing £350. Other items include ships’ mattresses, a portable dentist’s chair and impervious membrane for foot-and-mouth protection – originally costing £550, but on sale at £17.99. For those with a penchant for fancy dress, Scottish regimental parade socks (£15), can be teamed with military kilts (£30). Would-be soldiers can purchase army-issue grey braces for £7 or a jaunty bush hat for £10. There are some rather larger items on offer. The HMS Ark Royal is expected to be auctioned for around £3m, despite costing £200m, while Saxon armoured vehicles – the model used in Baghdad, which originally cost £85,000 – are going for £3,000. Some question the wisdom of the firesale. Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, a former infantry commander, called the move short-sighted: “The one thing of which you can be certain is that once precious defence equipment is sold, it will be needed again within the week.” He told the Mail on Sunday: “It is like selling the family silver. These goods have cost us millions and now they are being sold for peanuts. That cannot be right.” The MoD: “We are committed to delivering the best possible return for the taxpayer when disposing of surplus equipment. Last year alone the Disposal Services Authority (part of Defence Equipment and Support) secured £84m from sales.” Defence policy Ministry of Defence James Bond Alexandra Topping guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Afghan governor shoots at attacker in Taliban raid on government compound
August 14, 2011 No Comment
Provincial governor takes gun from bodyguard and fires as last surviving attacker approached after 18 people killed in raid A machine gun-wielding provincial governor took part in tackling a team of Taliban suicide bombers on Sunday when insurgents launched another brazen attack on a government facility in Afghanistan. Officials said 18 people were killed, including three policemen and 10 local government workers, and 35 were wounded, some badly enough that they had to be transported to Kabul for treatment. A Taliban spokesman claimed credit for the violence in Charikar, a city where they had made barely any inroads in the last 10 years. Abdul Basir Salangi, governor of Parwan, had been in his office holding a meeting with the province’s police chief and Nato foreign advisers when the six-man insurgent squad drove up to the compound in a Toyota Corolla. Various witnesses said one insurgent detonated a suicide device at a secured gate, allowing the rest of the group to enter the compound firing guns. Other members of the squad were killed inside the compound, but a final survivor got close to the governor. Salangi, a former guerrilla commander who fought as an insurgent himself back in the 1980s, took a weapon from his bodyguard and fired at the attacker. “The second attacker was shot in the corridor of the office by a policeman, and then three more were also killed inside the building,” said Sher Ahmad Malatbani, the police chief. He said the final attacker was 15 metres away when he was shot before he could detonate his explosives. Salangi, a close ally of Hamid Karzai, survived another assassination attempt earlier this month. The Afghan president condemned the latest attack and scolded “the enemies of Afghanistan” for killing civilians “even in the holy month of Ramadan”. There has been little support for the insurgency in the agricultural plains north of Kabul but the Taliban and allied groups have much to gain from sowing fear there. Charikar straddles a vital road that links Afghanistan to its Central Asian neighbours. Engineer Zalmai, a local elder whose hand was damaged by bomb shrapnel, said the authorities must find out quickly whether the insurgents had received any local support and, if so, why. “There are two problems that anger people: the joblessness and the fact that officials here are all appointed because whoever is appointed to the local administration only hires people who are their friends or relatives,” he said. The Taliban is waging a concerted effort to kill many leading Afghan officials, including some of Karzai’s most important allies. In recent months suicide gunmen and suicide attackers have killed Ahmed Wali Karzai, a brother of the president, and other powerbrokers who have a vital for controlling the south of the country. In May General Daud Daud, one of the more effective regional police bosses, was killed by a suicide bomber in northern Afghanistan. Afghanistan Jon Boone guardian.co.uk
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• Hit F5 for all of the latest updates from the match • Stats centre: league tables, top scorers and much more • And you can email jacob.steinberg.casual@guardian.co.uk GOAL! West Brom 1-1 Manchester United (Long, 37 min): 35 min: De Gea makes a fantastic save to deny Paul Scharner. The Austrian managed to sneak away from Anderson and burst into the area. Ferdinand came across, but wasn’t quick enough, allowing Scharner to hit a shot which De Gea pushed past the left post with both hands. The corner comes to nothing. 34 min: Rooney tees up Young, who runs around the ball and whips a shot towards the far corner from 25 yards out. Tamas gets his knee in the way. Meanwhile Tom Cleverley is playing very well indeed. He’s neat and tidy in possession, and is showing a great deal of strength too. 33 min: To those of you asking for us to turn the auto-refresh tool on, we can’t. Sorry. F5. 31 min: West Brom need to get Shorey in the game. I’ve got money on this. Oh God. I’ve caught Ingle. 30 min: “Man U are looking very fluent and strong in attack, but on the other hand I think West Brom aren’t looking that bad either, think they could well grab an equalizer if Man U aren’t careful, though Man U certainly have more goals in them,” says Oliver Lewis. “Their defence needs fixing though.” 29 min: From a Young corner from the left, the grotesquely overrated Foster pats the ball straight down to Nani, who hooks his volley over the bar from 12 yards out. United could be 3-0 up but for Nani’s profligacy. 27 min: Shane Long, who’s barely had a touch, evades Anderson snatches a shot wide of the left post from 30 yards out. Meanwhile Phil Neville is in with the United fans. “So, with De Gea continuing his flapping, the question must be asked if Maarten Stekelenburg would have been a better option?” asks Rob Hisnay. “And in 5 years, Sir Alex will need to replace De Gea anyways, when he has to sell him to Real Madrid as Casillas’ replacement. 25 min: United deal with another Brunt corner. “Woah, yet another MBM officiated by Jacob Steinberg!” observes Ryan Dunne. “In addition to the Reader Competition , maybe there should be a league of MBM officiating guardian hacks, with a cup going to the winner? It might help develop empathetic relationships with Lord Ferg et al if you guys were all aspiring to silverware too.” 24 min: A Chris Brunt free-kick falls at the feet of Reid on the edge of the area and his shot is deflected wide by Fabio. Brunt’s corner is cleared however. 22 min: What a miss from Nani. United are so slick and are attacking at such pace. West Brom can’t live with one-touch football at the moment. With a first-time pass, Rooney turned the ball through for Welbeck, who just had to check back, meaning he couldn’t shoot. Although the chance was gone for him, he managed to touch it back to Rooney and with West Brom utterly exposed, he shuffled the ball to the left for Nani, who leant back and wafted the ball over with his right foot from 10 yards out. It should be game over. 21 min: Young is enjoying plenty of joy on the left flank and Reid is in for a long afternoon. He’s not getting close enough to stop the cross, which isn’t a good idea. 20 min: Vidic is struggling with a knock – I’m not sure what – but has given himself five more minutes to try to run it off. Jonny Evans is getting ready though. 19 min: United look very fluent in attack. 17 min: Morrison, who scored a sumptuous volley in this fixture last season after Rooney had put United ahead, tries to make history repeat itself, but his scuffed shot from 25 yards is well wide. 14 min: Rooney’s rampaging through again, and West Brom back off and back off and back off, until it would have been positively rude for the forward not to shoot. He does but this time with his right foot, his powerful drive flashes at least five yards wide of the left post. Foster is furious. At this rate, Rooney could rack up the golden boot this afternoon. GOAL! West Brom 0-1 Manchester United (Rooney, 13 min): This is a lovely goal. On the halfway line, Fabio drove a pass towards Rooney who had his back to goal. Instead of laying it off, he produced a glorious backheeled flick to the left for Young, who was away. He cut inside and passed it to Rooney, who’d made it up to the edge of the area. The pass was slightly behind him but with West Brom affording him too much time and space, he was able to turn, get it on to his left foot and slam a shot through Tamas’s legs, which left Foster unsighted as the ball fizzed into the bottom-right corner. That’s an excellent finish. 11 min: Much better already from West Brom after their nervy start. Now they’re on top and Ferdinand has to come across to halt Tchoyi’s run, but at the cost of a corner. Brunt takes it again but the whistle blows for a foul on Vidic. 10 min: Vidic holds his hands out in disbelief, claiming he was fouled as he tried to clear a West Brom free-kick. No dice. Corner to West Brom. Brunt sends it in and again De Gea is all over the place. He comes and gets nowhere near it as Olsson stands his ground. The ball falls to Tchoyi on the left, just outside the six-yard box but after feinting to shoot, his drive is blocked. 8 min: West Brom are looking to see what De Gea is made of after his display against Manchester City last week. From 45 yards out, Scharner has a pop, the ball flying harmlessly wide. That’s a tad disrespectful really. 7 min: From the left, Morrison curls the free-kick into the area. De Gea looks uncertain but the ball passes all the way through the area and United survive. By the way, my colleague Simon Burnton informs me that Rafael is out for ten weeks with a shoulder injury. 6 min: At last West Brom mount an attack and Tchoyi bundles and tricks his way past Anderson on the left. He’s wrestled to the ground just outside the area. 5 min: Young seems to have settled very quickly at United. He’s a great winger and will not give his full-back any rest all afternoon. 3 min: What a start by United, who are all over West Brom like a wag wannabe and a Premier League footballer. Now Young isolates Reid on the left, and draws the foul. He dusts himself off and flashes the free-kick into the six-yard box. It’s a brilliant delivery and has Foster all at sea. Another corner to United, on the right. Anderson takes it and Foster punches clear. West Brom haven’t been out of their half. 2 min: United are on the front foot immediately. Anyone would think they’re the champions. On the left, Young and Fabio combine well, the young Brazilian getting round the back and firing a cross into the near post for Rooney. The ball gets stuck under his feet and is cleared, but only as far as Young, whose curler from 25 yards is deflected wide. The corner is whipped in from the right and under pressure in the six-yard box, Foster spills it, leading to an almighty scramble. Tchoyi desperately hacks it away. 1 min: Apologies if I get very excited whenever Nicky Shorey gets the ball. I’ve got him to score last in the office sweepstake. This will be openly biased towards him. Anyway, we’re off, United taking the kick-off and attacking from right to left. Their fans are in fine voice, but the West Brom fans are in a hugely positive mood. The teams are in the tunnel. And now they’re on the pitch, walking out to a nightclub beat. This is football in the 21st century. Consider this fair warning. I’ve done two minute-by-minutes already this weekend and both games have finished 0-0. Number 19 is in the bag. The quest for No 12 begins in earnest at The Hawthorns, one of five grounds where Manchester United won on their travels last season. Five wins away from home and they still won the league. Improve on that this time and the rest might as well forget about challenging them this time. Still, although West Brom lost, they did force Gary Neville into retirement and on to the Sky Sports sofa. United got the points, West Brom ended a man’s career. Neville’s been followed by Edwin van der Sar and Paul Scholes. Only Ryan Giggs remains. And Sir Alex Ferguson of course. He’s never leaving. In fact, it’s 10 years since he went what into was meant to be his final season at Old Trafford and look how that turned out. No, there’s a strong chance he’s going to be the first ever ghost manager. A younger look to United this season then. David de Gea, Phil Jones and Ashley Young have all come in, while there are high hopes for Tom Cleverley, Danny Welbeck and potentially Paul Pogba. But this isn’t a case of packing the team with kids. Indeed Alan Hansen wasn’t necessarily wrong after United’s 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa on the opening day of the 1995-96 season. Sure, there were youngsters in the team – if the Neville brothers can ever really be called young – but they were also surrounded by Peter Schmeichel, Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Dennis Irwin, Roy Keane and Eric Cantona. Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Giggs and Wayne Rooney provide the guidance now. United have a good record at West Brom, who were in danger of becoming the definitive yo-yo club until they stayed up last season. Aside from a mid-season slump under Roberto Di Matteo, which led to his sacking and Roy Hodgson’s appointment, they enjoyed a largely stress-free campaign and there’s no reason why they can’t finish in mid-table again. I’m not the biggest fan of Ben Foster, but he’s better than Scott Carson, and they’ve held on to their key players. That said, speculation still remains about Peter Odemwingie’s future. It’s just as well they’ve signed Shane Long. West Brom (4-4-1-1): Foster; Reid, Ollson, Tamas, Shorey; Morrison, Scharner, Mulumbu, Brunt; Tchoyi; Long Subs: Fulop, Cox, Jara Reyes, Fortune, Dawson, Dorrans, Thorne. Manchester United (4-4-2): De Gea; Smalling, Rio, Vidic, Fabio; Nani, Anderson, Cleverley, Young; Welbeck, Rooney. Subs: Lindegaard, Jones, Evans, Berbatov, Giggs, Park, Carrick. Premier League 2011-12 West Brom Manchester United Premier League Jacob Steinberg guardian.co.uk
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Rebels opposed to the Gaddafi regime claim they are advancing on the capital on three fronts and meeting little resistance Libyan rebels claim to be advancing on Tripoli on three fronts and meeting only sporadic resistance. Thirty-five miles west of the city, television pictures appeared to confirm reports that they are in control of much of the town of Zawiya, including the coastal highway to the Tunisian border. Fifty miles to the south, opposition fighters say they have pushed out of the Nafusa mountains to capture Ghariyan, cutting one of only two main highways linking Tripoli to the rest of Libya. To the east, rebel forces in Misrata have this weekend completed their capture of Tawarga. The attacks have been accompanied by heavy Nato air strikes with the alliance website reporting 51 military targets destroyed in three days of bombing. An al-Jazeera report from inside Zawiya showed rebels apparently in control of streets and the coastal highway, countering claims from Tripoli that government units had retaken the town. There was no independent confirmation of the capture of Ghariyan, but in Misrata, rebels said resistance by government forces to the east collapsed after a brief battle, allowing fighters to gain control of the neighbouring town of Tawarga. Pro-Gaddafi forces fled the town along with many civilians, abandoning vehicles and equipment including heavy artillery, with rebels further claiming that there were no enemy formations ahead. “We left one road open, we watched them drive away down it,” said rebel fighter Abdullah Maiteeg. He said the advance east from Misrata, which has claimed five rebel lives, had stopped because of concern that units might be mistaken for government forces by Nato jets. In Tripoli, a spokesman insisted Zawiya was under government control but gave no further details. Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Muammar Gaddafi Chris Stephen guardian.co.uk
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Norwegian police arranged eight-hour trip to island amid security operation to prevent escape attempts or revenge attacks Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian man who confessed to killing 69 people at an island youth camp has reconstructed his actions for police at the crime scene. Police said they took Breivik, 32, back to Utøya on Saturday for a hearing about the 22 July attacks, when he shot dozens of people dead on the island after killing eight people in Oslo with a bomb. He described the killings in detail during an eight-hour trip to the island, prosecutor Paal-Fredrik Hjort Kraby said. “The suspect showed he wasn’t emotionally unaffected by being back at Utøya … but didn’t show any remorse,” he added. Images of the reconstruction published in the Norwegian daily VG show Breivik pretending to fire shots into the water where panicked teenagers had tried to escape on 22 July. The hearing took place amid a security operation that aimed to avoid escape attempts by Breivik and protect him against potential avengers. Breivik’s lawyer said he has admitted to the attacks, but denies criminal guilt because he believes the massacre was necessary to save Norway and Europe from Muslims, and to punish politicians who have embraced multiculturalism. Initial speculation suggested others were involved in the attacks, but prosecutors and police said they are certain Breivik planned and committed them alone. Breivik faces up to 21 years in prison if convicted on terrorism charges. If he is still considered a danger to the public after serving his sentence, an alternative custody arrangement may be found. could keep him behind bars indefinitely. Norway Anders Behring Breivik Europe Gun crime Global terrorism guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Grassley Rails About President Obama Taking Responsibility for His Policies – Too Bad He’s Not Willing to do the Same
August 14, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media During the lead up to the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa, their senior senator, Chuck Grassley, made an appearance and took the opportunity to rail on about Obama not taking responsibility for his policies and apparently was very unhappy with Republicans being blamed for any of our economic problems. He also lied and repeated the same tired old line we’ve heard out of them time after time: GRASSLEY: By any measure of the economy or the fiscal policy, you [President Obama] have made every statistic worse. I hate to break it to the good senator, but no, he hasn’t as the article linked from Media Matters documents. He went on to say we need new leadership and a president who will take responsibility for their actions. What followed was a lot of cheerleading for American “exceptionalism” and more repetition promoting what we know are the failed fiscal policies of conservatism that we’ve seen slowly destroy what’s left of our middle class over the last thirty or forty years. President Obama is not far enough to the left to suit me. And I’ve been extremely irritated to see his administration adopting way too much of the same language from the right on anything from deficit reduction to tax cuts, to the confidence fairy to you name it. That said, a member of what has been a part of one of the most obstructionist Senates in the United States in history that continually blocked the hundreds of bills that were passed by the House of Representatives that could have improved our economy when the Democrats had control of both houses of Congress has absolutely no credibility whatsoever railing on about how President Obama hasn’t done more to get Americans back to work and our economy back on track. Our own Jon Perr wrote about that in March of last year here — GOP Wins Filibuster Gold Medal . And one of the biggest welfare queens with his farm subsidies has no business railing on about the evils of big government. Grassley loves that big government just fine as long as it’s lining his pockets and those of his family. Not so much when it comes to reducing poverty or taking care of the elderly or the least among us. When Chuck Grassley wants to take some responsibility for his own actions and how he’s governed, then he’s got a leg to stand on to complain about what President Obama has done or not done. He and his party and President Bush were pushing this country into the abyss when Bush left office and now he’s got the nerve to rail on about how their mess wasn’t fixed in the last two and a half years when they’ve done everything in their power to make sure that our economy does not get better, all for political gain in the hopes that the president doesn’t get reelected. This is the same Congress where it was a legitimate question to ask as Steve Benen did, if this debt ceiling hostage taking is The worst thing the GOP has ever done? when it comes to just pure fiscal recklessness. Grassley wants to blame President Obama for our fiscal problems, but as the New York Times reported, this chart clearly illustrates just who is to blame for the problems with our deficit. enlarge Credit: The New York Times And this is the same Congress that is refusing to do any more stimulus and that’s causing job losses at the state and local levels as Steve Benen explained in his post this week — The easy-to-save jobs we’re losing anyway : Every month, when the new job numbers come out, we tend to see the same thing: the private sector is faring relatively well, adding jobs, while the public sector is shedding jobs quickly. The former number is generally much larger than the latter, which means the economy is still adding jobs, but the public-sector losses are a significant drag on a weak employment market. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ Nicholas Johnson explained the other day, “Since August 2008, state and local governments have slashed 611,000 positions, and the cuts have been getting worse — 340,000 of those jobs were lost in the last 12 months. July was the ninth consecutive month, and the 29th out of the last 35, in which total state and local employment shrank.” This chart, via Ezra , helps drive the point home: enlarge Credit: Bereau of Labor Statistics I know I talk about this a lot, but given the jobs crisis and the public demand that policymakers address unemployment, it’s important to realize one of the key factors dragging down the economy. Layoffs at the state and local level were mitigated in 2009 by the Recovery Act, which saved thousands of jobs that would have otherwise been eliminated. Those funds have since been exhausted, and the public sector is back to making severe layoffs. It’s why that column on the right is the most severe. This is what David Leonhardt recently described as “ an unforced economic error ” — with all of the problems we can’t control, this is one problem we know exactly how to prevent. We just choose not to, because the Republicans’ ideology dictates that these job losses are actually good for us. No, really, the GOP looks at the above chart and sees this as a positive development. Under the Republican economic model, the public sector is supposed to lose jobs, and as part of the party’s austerity agenda, this is a problem that must get worse on purpose. Earlier this year, for example, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was asked about his spending-cut plans and the fact that the cuts would force thousands of public-sector workers from their jobs. “ So be it ,” the Republican said. In other words, deliberately making unemployment worse wasn’t seen as a problem. This is a feature of the GOP model, not a bug. And on a final note on whether President Obama has made the economy worse since he took office, here’s Steve Benen’s latest jobs chart from this month — Private sector jobs also improving . enlarge Credit: The Washington Monthly If Sen. Grassley thinks those red lines when George Bush was in office are something we should be returning to with the new “strong leader” he was touting the need for here, I’d like to know what he’s been smoking. Chuck Grassley wants President Obama to take responsibility for his fiscal policies and what they’ve done to our nation’s economy. In response I would ask, just when is he and his party going to do the same? I suspect the answer is never since apparently admitting reality and what got us to this point, much taking responsibility for that reality is something they’re completely incapable of.
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Ignacio Estrada ties the knot with Wendy Iriepa, whose sex-change operation was paid for by the state A gay man and a woman whose sex-change operation was paid for by the state tied the knot this weekend in a first-of-its-kind wedding for Cuba. The bride, Wendy Iriepa, 37, arrived at the wedding hall in Havana in a full white wedding gown, with flowers in her hair and holding a rainbow flag. Inside, a public notary joined the couple in a brief civil ceremony and the newlyweds kissed to cheers from friends and family. “This is the first wedding between a transsexual woman and a gay man,” said the 31-year-old groom, Ignacio Estrada. “We celebrate it at the top of our voices and affirm that this is a step forward for the gay community in Cuba.” Gay marriage is not legal in Cuba and Saturday’s wedding does nothing to change that, since Iriepa – born Alexis – is a woman in the eyes of the law. She underwent sex-change surgery in 2007 as part of a pilot programme that began in earnest the following year and made gender-reassignment procedures part of the island’s universal healthcare system. One other transgender woman married years ago, but Iriepa is the first to do so having benefited from the new policy. In the early years after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, homosexuality was considered highly suspect in Cuba along with other “alternative” forms of expression, such as US fashion trends and rock’n’roll. Many gay and transsexual people were fired from government jobs, jailed, sent to work camps or went into exile. That climate of persecution was chronicled by the exiled writer Reinaldo Arenas’ autobiographical Before Night Falls, which became a feature film starring Javier Bardem. Today the island and its government are much more tolerant. Cuba’s most prominent gay rights activist is Mariela Castro, Fidel’s niece and the daughter of the president, Raul Castro. She heads the National Sex Education Centre and, at a transgender event on Friday, she spoke of the institution’s work, including anti-homophobia campaigns and pushing for the state to cover sex-change operations. “One of our accomplishments has made it possible for Wendy to get married,” she said. “It seems she found the love of her life and we wish her many congratulations, because all of our work has been for this, the wellbeing and happiness of our sisters.” Castro’s words belied divisions that have taken hold within the gay movement. Some have accused her of monopolising the cause and struck out on their own, organizing a separate, smaller pride march this year and coming to be labelled members of a “dissident” gay community. Estrada was part of that march, and Iriepa left her job at the Sex Education Centre, reportedly after Castro questioned the relationship. Castro said she was not invited to the wedding. Iriepa thanked Castro for wishing them well. “I think this has been politicised by the Cuban government. I have not wanted to make this into a circus or something really political,” she said. “It is the happiest day of my life.” Estrada, in recent comments to the US-based Radio Marti, called the marriage a “birthday present to Fidel Castro to remind him of the atrocities he committed against the Cuban gay community, above all in the 1960s.” Castro, who turned 85 on Saturday, has expressed regret in recent years over the treatment of gay people during that period. Cuba Gay rights guardian.co.uk
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Deputy first minister attacks dissident republicans after disturbances at the climax of loyalist marching season Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister Martin McGuinness has branded republican youths involved in rioting in his native Derry this weekend as sectarian. It was one of the strongest attacks McGuinness has made on dissident republicans and their supporters since the Real IRA and other anti-ceasefire groups have escalated their violent campaigns over the past two years. Four men were arrested overnight in connection with the disturbances during which cars were hijacked and in one incident a mother and daughter were pulled out of their vehicle. Petrol bombs were thrown at police officers and vans by masked youths in the Bogside area, and at the Apprentice Boys’ Memorial Hall HQ in Derry at the climax of the loyalist marching season. Dissident republicans were also believed to be behind a pipe bomb attack at police lines close to Derry city centre on Saturday evening. No one was injured during the disturbances, which lasted for several hours. The violence erupted after supporters of the Real IRA-linked 32 County Sovereignty Movement attempted to make their way into the city centre. At the time up to 15,000 members of the Apprentice Boys along with their supporters were marching in Derry. McGuinness said on Sunday: “What we witnessed last night in Derry was completely unacceptable. I challenge those who were behind this violence to come out and try and defend the incidents that occurred in our city. “Let them stand over a mother and daughter being dragged from their car in Creggan and other people’s livelihoods being destroyed with work vans being burnt. “The attacks on the Memorial Hall were motivated entirely by sectarianism and whoever carried them out should know that such behaviour goes against everything about Irish Republicanism.” He added: “The vast majority of people in Derry want to get on with the job of moving this city forward. Those behind last night’s violence seem to be wedded to an entirely different agenda.” Dissident republicans had staged protests against the parade and were involved in scuffles with police as the march passed through the centre of the city. The Apprentice Boys’ celebrations marked the 322nd anniversary of the ending of the Siege of Derry in 1689 and has in the past been the focal point of violent republican counter-demonstrations. Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness Real IRA Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …55-year-old director of Muktir Gaan and Matir Moina was one of Bangladesh’s most prominent and celebrated film-makers One of Bangladesh’s most prominent and celebrated film-makers died on Saturday when the car in which he was travelling collided head-on with a speeding bus outside Dhaka. Tareque Masud died along with Ashfaque Munier Mishuk, the head of a local television channel, and three other people. Masud’s American-born wife and producer, Catherine Masud, and the Bangladeshi painter Dhali Al Mamun are in a serious condition in hospital. Masud, 55, rose to prominence with the films Muktir Gaan in 1995 and Matir Moina in 2002, the latter of which is based on Masud’s experiences as a madrassa student during Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. The film won a Fipresci prize at the 2002 Cannes film festival and was the first Bangladeshi film to compete for the best foreign-language film award a the Oscars. Mishuk, 52, was an eminent cinematographer and journalist who had worked for BBC World, Discovery Channel and National Geographic. Thousands of people gathered at the Central Shaheed Minar monument in Dhaka on Sunday to pay their respects. The education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, said: “It is a very unfortunate incident for us. Masud through his movies had given a new dimension to liberation war. Mishuk was an immensely talented journalist. It is a national loss.” Professor Mazharul Hoque, a road safety expert at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said Bangladesh had one of the worst crash rates in the world, at more than 60 per 10,000 registered motor vehicles. The official death toll for road traffic accidents is about 4,000 a year, but independent research funded by agencies such as Britain’s Department for International Development have put the figure twice as high. Activists blame shoddy roads, poorly maintained vehicles and reckless drivers. Last month 43 schoolchildren died near the port city of Chittagong when the truck taking them home from a football match overturned. Bangladesh Road transport guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Women’s Magazine Pounds Megyn Kelly About Fox News Bias, Palin’s Offenses Against ‘Free Speech’
August 14, 2011 No Comment
Via Mediaite, we learn Fox anchor Megyn Kelly granted an interview to the women’s magazine Marie Claire , but her interviewer, Yael Kohen, apparently never watches the media. Even after a huge cover spread and interview in Newsweek magazine, Yael sticks to an old (and false) liberal talking point in playing “gotcha” with Kelly, asking ” I assume you believe in free speech. How do you feel about the fact that Sarah Palin doesn't talk to the press unless it's Fox News?” Earth to Kohen: Palin, a private citizen, exercises free speech in deciding which interview proposals to accept. Kelly strongly suggested the question wasn't factual: “Well, I don't know if the premise of the question is correct, because she has talked to other outlets. I think there are certain outlets she doesn't like. And I think she thinks she's been treated unfairly by people in the press.” But the liberal interviewer persisted that Palin had to submit to liberal-media bombardment: MARIE CLAIRE MAGAZINE: But isn't that part of the job? Isn't that what politicians have to do? KELLY: I suppose so. If I were Sarah Palin, would I want to sit in an interview with someone who was secretly out to get me? Probably not. But as a journalist, do I want candidates to make themselves available to all of us? Yes, I do. I think it's a good idea. Then Kohen became more direct in her aggression against Fox News: MARIE CLAIRE MAGAZINE: Do you think that ideologues like Glenn Beck have harmed Fox's reputation as a legitimate source of unbiased news? KELLY: If Fox had promoted Glenn Beck as a straight newsman who would be delivering the nightly update, like Bret Baier, then yes. But it was clear from the beginning — and it remains clear — that Glenn Beck is an opinion host. He doesn't report as a journalist and isn't making any attempt to be a journalist. MARIE CLAIRE MAGAZINE: Do you think Fox is biased? KELLY: No. Fox News covers stories that some other news outlets won't cover. We ask some questions that other news outlets wouldn't ask. And sometimes that's perceived as bias by people who've grown up in a world where there are only liberal outlets. No one will find it surprising that this women’s magazine didn’t pound Mika Brzezinski about whether MSNBC was biased when she was interviewed earlier this year. Somehow, it never came up. But they suggested Kelly deserved being meat in Jon Stewart’s satire grinder: MARIE CLAIRE MAGAZINE: He has called you out for being a hypocrite. For example, you challenged a guest who accused your network of using Nazi rhetoric in reference to Democrats. Then Stewart ran clips of your colleagues doing exactly that. Is he taking you out of context, or do you take his point? KELLY: I had never said it didn't happen. My guest asserted that it happened every night on Fox News, and I said, “That's not true.” And then Fox critics put words in my mouth and tried to criticize me for them. Jon Stewart definitely takes [things I say] out of context for humorous effect. And I think he would admit that. But it's really one of those can't-lose situations because every time he mocks me, it increases my visibility and bumps my ratings. So mock away!
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