Chief executive resigns after intense criticism from parliament and public as Rupert Murdoch apologises to Dowler family Rebekah Brooks finally resigned as chief executive of News International as the phone-hacking scandal engulfing News Corporation led Rupert Murdoch to issue an abject apology for what he described as “serious wrongdoing”. Less than 24 hours after insisting the company had made only “minor mistakes” in handling the crisis, a contrite Murdoch arranged a private meeting with the family of Milly Dowler and issued a full-page apology in every national newspaper for his company’s behaviour. The dramatic turn of events came 10 days after the Guardian first revealed that private investigators working for the News of the World had hacked into the phone of the murdered girl during a police investigation into her disappearance. The subsequent outrage and other evidence of wrongdoing has led to the closure of the 168-year-old newspaper, the scrapping of the Murdoch bid for BSkyB and the arrest of several former NoW executives. Downing Street admitted that David Cameron hosted Andy Coulson at Chequers in March two months after his resignation as the Downing Street director of communications. Labour accused the prime minister of an “extraordinary lack of judgment” in extending an invitation to Coulson, who was arrested last week. The former NoW editor denies any knowledge of phone hacking. The fallout from the scandal is placing intense pressure on Sir Paul Stephenson, the Met police commissioner. Cameron is said to be furious that Stephenson did not tell him he had hired Neil Wallis, the former NoW deputy editor arrested this week, to advise him on media relations. Stephenson has been asked to explain himself to Theresa May, the home secretary. It was unclear what had prompted the Murdochs to accept the resignation of Brooks, a 22-year veteran of the company, after steadfastly standing by her in the face of calls for her to go from the leaders of all the main political parties, including the prime minister. It is understood, however that the decision was not done overnight. Her departure was planned with military precision during a series of family summits and transatlantic phone calls with shareholders over the last few days. The resignation comes just four days before she is due to appear before parliament alongside Rupert and James Murdoch, chairman of News International, to answer questions about the scandal. In her resignation statement, Brooks said she wanted to clear her name as well as the company’s and focus on all “current and future inquiries”. She added: “The reputation of the company we love so much, as well as the press freedoms we value so highly, are all at risk.” Hours after this statement, Rupert Murdoch met the parents and sister of Milly Dowler in a hotel in central London. “He was very humbled and very shaken and very sincere,” said Mark Lewis, the Dowler family lawyer. “I think this was something that had hit him on a very personal level and was something that shouldn’t have happened. He apologised many times. I don’t think somebody could have held their head in their hands so many times and say that they were sorry.” Lewis said Milly’s parents, Sally and Bob, and her sister, Gemma, had told Murdoch his newspapers “should lead the way to set the standard of honesty and decency in the field and not what had gone on before”. Murdoch had replied that the News of the World’s actions were “not the standard set by his father, a respected journalist, not the standard set by his mother”, Lewis said. In a full-page apology in the Guardian and other newspapers today, the News Corp boss says: “We are sorry for the serious wrongdoing that occurred. We are deeply sorry for the hurt suffered by the individuals affected. We regret not acting faster to sort things out.” Such an admission represents a volte face after Murdoch praised the company’s handling of the scandal in his first interview on the issue, given to one of his own newspapers, the Wall Street Journal. The printed apology also suggests that the company will do more to atone for the mistakes of the past. “I realise that simply apologising is not enough,” he writes. “In the coming days, as we take further concrete steps to resolve these issues and make amends for the damage they have caused, you will hear more from us.” In his own statement to staff at News International, which still owns the Times, the Sunday Times and the Sun, James Murdoch admitted that the company had made mistakes but praised “one of the outstanding editors of her generation”. Brooks is to be replaced by the head of Sky Italia, Tom Mockridge. Downing Street welcomed her resignation, which relieved some of the pressure on Cameron, who in effect called for her to go last Friday. But the prime minister’s spokesman said Brooks should still give evidence to the media select committee next week. He said of the resignation: “He thinks it’s the right decision. He said the other day he would have accepted her resignation.” No 10 hopes that releasing details of the prime minister’s contacts with the media and setting out the full scope of the judge-led inquiry will relieve the pressure on him as he attempts to regain the initiative. The prime minister hopes to finalise the membership of the inquiry and agree its terms of reference by the end of next week. But Labour believes that he will continue to face pressure until Coulson’s position is clarified. News International Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Jane Martinson Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
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Across the Arab world, protesters show fury at the resistance to change shown by interim authorities as well as old regimes The historic revolutions that have rippled through the Arab world this year were in danger of eclipse on Friday night as protesters returned to the streets to profess their disgust at how the movement is being stymied by regimes old and new. Six months after the Arab spring claimed its first dictator, the main squares of Cairo and Tunis were again alive with protest, teargas and fury at the resistance to change shown by interim authorities. In Syria activists said at least 19 people had been killed in the latest crackdown against protests that have convulsed the country for more than four months. At least seven people were killed in Yemen amid a political limbo that appears no closer to resolution. And in Jordan a heavy security presence policed pro- and anti-reform demonstrations which turned violent. The scenes served as a reminder that following the euphoria of the Arab spring, little concrete progress towards reform has been made. Elections in Tunisia and Egypt have been postponed. Offers of reform in Yemen and Syria have been rejected as inadequate. Egypt Thousands of demonstrators descended on public squares around the country to offer a “Friday of final warning” to the ruling military junta, amid fears that the revolution which toppled Hosni Mubarak is being betrayed by conservative forces. Rallies and hunger strikes were reported from Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast all the way down to Luxor in the south and Suez in the east, with the main focus once again on Cairo’s Tahrir Square where a large sit-in is now over a week old and shows no sign of ending. Protesters accused the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which assumed power in the aftermath of Mubarak’s fall and promised to make way for a democratically-elected civilian government later this year, of stifling revolutionary demands and working to shield elements of the old regime from grassroots political change. “As many have been saying on Facebook, the relationship between the people and SCAF is the same as the relationship between a wife and a husband who she knows is being unfaithful,” said Shady Alaa El Din, a demonstrator in Tahrir. “She tolerated it at first in an effort not to destroy the family and hurt the children, but eventually she realised the husband doesn’t really care about the family at all, so now she has dropped her act and is taking him on directly,” he added. “At first we lied to ourselves, we wanted to believe they were with us. But now the street has woken up and it is saying to SCAF ‘we are the rulers, and you follow our orders – not the other way round. We are the fucking red line, you do not cross us.’” In common with most protesters, El Din was infuriated this week by an address from SCAF spokesman General Mohsen El-Fangari, in which he warned against those seeking to “disrupt public order” and adopted a tone reminiscent of Mubarak in his final speeches to the nation. Pressure is now mounting on interim prime minister Essam Sharaf, who appears unable or unwilling to force through meaningful policy changes in the face of the generals’ intransigence and is now being urged to resign by many of his original supporters. Tunisia For anyone new to the Tunisian capital, it was almost as though the past six months had never happened. Balaclava-wearing riot police armed with batons, teargas launchers and dogs squared up against a small crowd of demonstrators who had gathered to express a sentiment widely felt in the city: that the revolution has run into the sand, stymied by a caretaker administration that they say has done little to implement revolutionaries’ demands. The central government square or Qasbah was protected by coils of barbed wire and armoured vehicles, as demonstrators waving Tunisian flags chanted “peaceful, peaceful”. Then the trouble started. The first gas canister spewed a thick white smoke and was quickly followed by many others. Protesters ran for cover into dark shadows against a white gas screen. Two men held their ground, kneeling bare-chested and facing the charging police. A third stopped a canister that whirled past, picked it up and threw it back at police lines. As the fumes dispersed, the demonstrators returned, their numbers now swelled into the hundreds. Some began pelting police with small rocks. “The people who tortured me are still there,” said Malek Khudaira pointing at the ministry where he was held for 10 days during the uprising that toppled the former dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. “How can I feel there is change and it’s a full revolution if everything is the same, I see those torturers walking in the streets every day.” For hours a game of attack and counter attacked ensued. Demonstrators would march, police would fire hails of canisters into their midst. One man in black trousers, white shirt and sunglasses stood facing the police when they fired a small canister point blank at his belly. He fell where he stood. Others helped him away. The organisers labelled the event as “the Qasbah 3″. Number 1 was the uprising that toppled Ben Ali and forced him to flee and number 2 was the sit-in that toppled the first caretaker government a month later. Syria Activists reported at least 19 deaths across Syria and dozens of injuries as people gathered for the main weekly prayers, which have been used as a launching pad for dissent for more than four months. Heavy clashes took place in parts of the capital, according to activists and state media, who offered widely diverging accounts. At least seven protesters were shot dead in neighbourhoods of Damascus as some of the largest crowds since the uprising poured on to the streets. Security forces have generally used batons and teargas in Damascus to avoid inflaming protests in the heartland of the regime’s power. Elsewhere, scores of wounded were reported in the cities of Aleppo, Deraa, Idleb and Homs. Syrian officials again blamed armed gangs for the violence – an indirect reference to Islamists who it claims are trying to ignite sectarian chaos. However, activists said unarmed demonstrators were again attacked by soldiers firing live rounds. The use of violence has been unpredictable, changing by week and location. In Homs, one resident in the well-off neighbourhood of Inshaat said security forces appeared to be trying to avoid deaths. “They have been shooting but seemed to be aiming at the legs rather that the heads.” Two of the biggest protests took place in Hama and Deir Ezzor, on a day when activists estimated that up to 1 million people may have openly defied the regime nationwide. Jordan Ten people, mostly journalists, were injured on Fridaywhen Jordanian police tried to intervene in clashes between pro-reform demonstrators and government supporters in Amman. Hundreds of protesters calling for political changes and an end to corruption gathered in the centre of the capital but it was not clear whether they would ignore official warnings against holding a sit-in of the types seen in Egypt and Bahrain. Jordan has seen sporadic unrest since January but only on a small scale. Opposition demands – supported by youth groups, civil society organisations and Islamists – are for changes within the framework of the Hashemite monarchy. King Abdullah has pledged to pursue reforms that would allow the formation of future governments based on an elected parliamentary majority but gave no date. The slogan “the people want the reform of the regime” was in striking and deliberate contrast to demands elsewhere for the “overthrow” of rulers. The Amman protest was held with a heavy security presence, with police, gendarmerie and special forces surrounding the area, the Ammon News website reported. Rallies for reform and against “rampant corruption” also drew hundreds of demonstrators in the southern cities of Tafileh, Maan and Karak, and in Irbid and Jerash in the north. Arab and Middle East unrest Egypt Middle East Africa Tunisia Syria Jordan Ghaith Abdul-Ahad Jack Shenker Martin Chulov Ian Black guardian.co.uk
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President says failure to increase borrowing would put up interest rates, in effect raising everyone’s taxes Barack Obama has warned that the US is “running out of time” to raise the limit on US government borrowing and that failure to do so will lead in effect to a tax increase for all Americans, because a downgrade of the country’s credit rating would cause an interest rate rise. The president’s warning was reinforced by a threat from the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s to strip the US of its AAA standing if no long-term political deal is reached to tackle government spending and debt. As Obama and Republican leaders in Congress continued to wrangle over the terms for approving an increase in the US’s $14.3 trillion (£8.9tn) debt ceiling by the 2 August deadline – with Republicans rejecting Obama’s demand that tax increases for the wealthy accompany sharp budget cuts – the president warned ordinary Americans of the seriousness of the situation. “This is not some abstract issue. These are obligations that the United States has taken on in the past. The Congress has run up the credit card and we now have an obligation to pay our bills. If we do not it could have a whole set of adverse consequences. We could end up with a situation, for example, where interest rates rise for everybody all throughout the country, effectively a tax increase on everybody,” he said. But Obama also told a White House press conference that while the situation was serious, it could be resolved. “We don’t have to do anything radical to solve this problem. Contrary to what some folks say, we’re not Greece, we’re not Portugal. “It turns out that our problem is we cut taxes without paying for them over the last decade … We fought two wars. We didn’t pay for them. We had a bad recession that required a recovery act and stimulus spending.” S&P, which follows Moody’s in warning of a possible downgrading of the US’s top credit rating, put America on negative watch on Thursday and said there was “at least a one-in-two likelihood” that it could downgrade its debt “by one or more notches … if we conclude that Congress and the administration have not achieved a credible solution to the rising US government debt burden and are not likely to achieve one in the foreseeable future”. Obama said that political leaders “should not even be this close to a deadline on this issue”, but he stood firm in his opposition to Republican plans for $2.4tn in immediate spending cuts. The president said to achieve that level of savings without added tax revenues would require the “gutting” of social programmes that he could not support. He said that when ordinary Americans are asked to contribute more to retirement and healthcare programmes, then “millionaires and billionaires can afford to do a bit more”. Republican leaders in the US Senate appeared to be edging closer to an emergency deal with Democrats that would permit the president to raise the debt ceiling unilaterally, but there was continued opposition from fiscal conservatives in the House of Representatives who view such an arrangement as a victory for the White House. Obama said that the Republicans had “boxed themselves in” with election commitments. The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives said it won control of the lower house of Congress in last November’s election with a mandate to sharply cut government spending without any increase in taxes. The Tea Party movement and fiscal conservatives intend to hold newly elected House members to that commitment, and warn that any deal with the president that does not include deep cuts or permits tax increases will be viewed as a betrayal. Obama described any temporary solution that did not tackle long-term spending problems as the least attractive option. “We have a unique opportunity to do something big. We have a chance to stabilise America’s finances for a decade, for 15 years or 20 years, if we’re willing to seize the moment,” he said. John Chambers, chairman of S&P’s sovereign ratings committee, also warned that an interim solution of the kind under discussion in the Senate would not be good enough and that Washington must tackle the long-term debt issue. “If you get a small agreement, that will lead to a downgrade,” he told Reuters. US economy Economics Financial crisis Banking US domestic policy United States Chris McGreal guardian.co.uk
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WikiLeaks founder’s biological father, attending extradition hearing, tells of son’s ‘immense desire for justice in the world’ Julian Assange’s biological father has described his son as a “great dissident” in what he said would be his first and probably only media interview. John Shipton, who has been attending the Assange extradition hearing in London, spoke to the Spanish newspaper el País and confirmed that his son did not get to know him until his mid-20s. “I have kept my mouth closed so as not to hinder things,” said Shipton, whose name Assange used to register the Wikileaks.org domain name in 2006. Shipton met Assange’s mother, Christine, then aged 17, at an antiques shop on his way to a Vietnam war demonstration – which she joined. Little is known about the relationship, except that it had ended by the time of their son’s first birthday – if not earlier. Christine then married theatre director Brett Assange. Shipton told el País that he first got to know his son after Christine rang his Sydney home in 1996. Assange was 25 at the time. “It was extraordinary,” Shipton said. “Certain of his thought processes made it seem like I was staring into a mirror. I could barely believe it. He had the same logic, the same intense curiosity, the same obtuse way of constructing sentences … that never end.” That meeting coincided with, or came soon after, Assange’s 1996 trial for computer hacking – where his lawyer talked of a “really quite tragic” nomadic childhood that saw him attend at least a dozen schools. His mother became pregnant in her early 20s after she “effectively ran away from home” to Sydney, according to court documents used by Guardian journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding in their book WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War On Secrecy. The documents state that Shipton “never took up residence or if he did only took up residence for a very short time” and “had no contact with [Assange]“. Assange nevertheless later felt confident enough to use his father’s name to register WikiLeaks’ internet domain name, re-registering Shipton’s nominal address in 2008 as Nairobi in Kenya. Shipton had worried that his son was a modern Don Quixote. “At that time it seemed as though Julian loved tilting at windmills, but it turned out not to be like that.” He warned Assange that he was setting himself tough, idealistic targets. “When someone tells you they want to turn the world upside down, you reply: ‘OK, try it. But it’s not that easy!’” Shipton, who is believed to work as a freelance architect in Sydney, said Assange had inherited Christine’s fighting spirit. “He is a great dissident, well-prepared for a new era in which direct action is practised via the internet.” He said his son’s style of dissidence followed in the tradition of people like Che Guevara, Apollinaire or south American hero Simón Bolívar. Shipton is convinced Assange is the victim of a conspiracy. “I think all this has been organised,” he said, while adding that he did not want to hurt Assange’s alleged Swedish victims with his words. “The intelligence agencies got involved in this business from the very start.” Assange’s father apparently sees the US government behind the decision by Mastercard and Visa to prevent WikiLeaks accepting donations from their credit cards. “There is no separation between governments and finance,” he said. “There are many intelligent people in the world, but most seem to be wicked, while Julian seems to have the moral courage and ability to carry his vision through. He seems to have an immense desire for justice in the world.” Julian Assange WikiLeaks Giles Tremlett guardian.co.uk
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UK’s former chief scientist calls instead for a system where each nation is awarded a carbon emissions quota based on population The world should abandon the Kyoto protocol on climate change and move instead to a system where each nation would have a carbon emissions quota based on population, the UK’s former chief scientist has urged, in an explosive contribution to the long-running climate negotiations. Sir David King is one of the most respected figures in climate change policy.He is the architect of the UK’s response to global warming, credited with reviving the flagging climate talks in 2004 when he called the problem “a greater threat than international terrorism “. He told the Guardian: “I can’t see the Kyoto protocol making any headway – there are enough blocks in place, especially from the US and China, that it is wholly unlikely that it will go on. We need to be pragmatic.” He said his proposals – by which countries could take their own actions on greenhouse gases without agreeing them at an international level – offered “a far more realistic pathway than hoping countries will come together in an international agreement at a single point”. “If you say only a full [legally binding] treaty is any good, we will still be arguing about it in 20 years,” he said. King – who was born in Durban, South Africa, where the next round of climate talks will take place this December – will publish a report on Monday intended to inject new life into the long-running United Nations talks. The ultimate aim, he said, should be that by mid-century each country should have an emissions quota based on their population – probably set at around two tonnes of carbon per person – supported by a carbon trading system, by which rich countries wanting to exceed their quota could buy carbon credits from poorer nations. The average UK citizen has a carbon footprint around 4.5 times that, while the average US citizen’s footprint is 10 times as large. In order to get to that point, according to King, negotiators should accept that countries must be allowed to make their own decisions on measures to reduce emissions without the framework of an over-arching agreement. King’s views are an attack on some of the most dearly held tenets of the climate change talks. While the idea of a per capita emissions quota will appeal to some, many developing countries are insistent that the Kyoto protocol must be continued, as the only international treaty that requires rich nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. They, along with green campaigning groups, also want any new agreement to be a fully legally binding treaty – not a voluntary system countries can enter if they wish, and under which they can change their minds on emissions targets at any time. But King believes these entrenched positions need to be abandoned and radical new ideas and more “realism” injected into the negotiations, if they are to be successful. He argues that moving away from the goal of a fully articulated global treaty to a system of voluntary actions, and bilateral or multilateral agreements among nations will achieve this. This would mean governments and the United Nations would have to accept some countries – perhaps including the US, Opec countries and others – might effectively opt out of the process. King’s report, for Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and Environment, where he is director, shows that the 1997 Kyoto protocol had little effect on emissions outside Europe. This means that in nearly 20 years of negotiations the world has failed to produce an effective and comprehensive global agreement on emissions. “Since 1992 [when the first talks took place], 192 nations have achieved remarkably little – despite the fact that no other single topic in the world has been given so much of policymakers’ time,” he said. “But in parallel, national actions and actions by business have brought about very substantial change.” By scrapping the Kyoto protocol and moving to a voluntary system whereby countries could make commitments on curbing emissions and later revise them – so-called “pledge and review” – the world could build on the progress that some countries have already made, he said. As part of the report, King’s team tracked progress on emissions around the world, producing a map showing which countries have done most. Several Latin American countries, including Brazil and Mexico, and Indonesia, Japan and Norway all emerged as “very good”. The European Union was rated “good” in terms of its progress, and the US, Canada, Australia and parts of the Middle East were classed “very poor”. King’s contribution was welcomed by some observers of the talks who have long argued that the deadlock can only be broken by accepting that a legally binding treaty may be out of reach and concentrating instead on concrete actions that would achieve reductions in emissions. “This report confronts the fact that a binding treaty is not going to occur in the near future, and that the pledge and review approach can bring important gains,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former Bill Clinton White House official on climate change and veteran of the climate talks. “For too long negotiators and activists have let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The motto should be start and strengthen, a method that has worked well for the Montreal protocol process. That said, pressure on major emitters to make cuts must be made in all venues, including the G20 and the major economies forums, to be fully effective.” But King’s proposals are likely to be controversial for many participants, including some developing countries and green pressure groups. “Scrapping Kyoto and waiting for something better to come along is a bit like abandoning your car by the side of the road in the hope someone will pick you up later,” said Ruth Davis, chief policy adviser at Greenpeace. “The new report’s authors are right to stress that global co-operation and common rules are essential, but Kyoto is the only agreement the world has made so far that moves us closer to those goals. Scrapping it would send a destructive signal to investors and undermine the green economy.” She urged governments to agree to a “second commitment period” for the protocol, to continue when the current commitments expire in 2012. “Europe’s leaders can secure the future of the Kyoto later this year, by agreeing to a second commitment period,” she said. “It is in their interests to do so, both to drive much-needed investment in the clean energy sector, and to begin the transition to a comprehensive global agreement over the next decade.” King’s proposal of a global emissions quota based on population has its roots in the idea of “contraction and convergence”, first put forward in the early 1990s, by which countries would reduce their greenhouse gas output and move towards equal emissions across the world. King said the system could be devised in such a way that it did not simply encourage population growth. Kyoto protocol Climate change Global climate talks Carbon emissions Emissions trading United Nations David King Population Fiona Harvey guardian.co.uk
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PM paid for former News of the World editor to stay over, two months after he quit as media chief amid phone-hacking scandal David Cameron hosted Andy Coulson at Chequers in March, two months after the former News of the World editor resigned as Downing Street director of communications, No 10 has said. In a sign of his determination to stand by the man he described as a “friend”, the prime minister paid out of his own pocket to welcome Coulson for an overnight stay at Chequers. Downing Street disclosed Coulson’s visit to Chequers as it published details of all of Cameron’s contacts with media proprietors and executives since he became Tory leader in 2005. The prime minister had told MPs on Wednesday that he would publish details of the contacts since he became prime minister but he later decided that this should cover all contacts since he became Tory leader. Labour attacked Cameron’s decision to invite Coulson to Chequers two months after his resignation in January, saying it showed an “extraordinary lack of judgment”. Ivan Lewis, the shadow culture secretary, said: “This is yet more evidence of an extraordinary lack of judgment by David Cameron. He hosted Andy Coulson at Chequers after, in the prime minister’s own words, Mr Coulson’s second chance hadn’t worked out. David Cameron may think that this is a good day to bury bad news but he now has an increasing number of serious questions to answer.” The prime minister has come under fire for what Ed Miliband described as a catastrophic misjudgment in taking Coulson into No 10 after the election. Cameron said at a press conference in Downing Street last Friday that he had met his “friend” Coulson since his resignation but not recently or frequently. In the past week he has started to distance himself from Coulson after facing intense criticisms for ignoring warnings from Nick Clegg and Lord Ashdown about the political dangers of bringing Coulson into No 10 after the general election. On Wednesday, Cameron told MPs: “I hired a tabloid editor. I did so on the basis of assurances he gave me that he did not know about the phone hacking and was not involved in criminality. He gave those self-same assurances to the police, to a select committee of this house and under oath to a court of law. If it turns out he lied, it will not just be that he should not have been in government; it will be that he should be prosecuted. But I do believe that we must stick to the principle that you are innocent until proven guilty.” This marked a change in tone from his press conference last Friday in Downing Street. Asked then whether he had been in touch with Coulson, Cameron said: “Yes, I have spoken to him. I have seen him, not recently and not frequently. But when you work with someone for four years, as I did, and you work closely, you do build a friendship, and I became friends with him. I think he did his job for me and the Conservative party and then the country – I think he did it in a very effective way. So, yes, he became a friend and is a friend.” When the phone-hacking affair erupted again earlier this month, Downing Street said that the prime minister stood by a statement he made when Coulson resigned as the No 10 director of communications on 21 January. This said that he had resigned simply because the allegations about phone hacking were making it impossible for him to concentrate on his job. The details of the prime minister’s contacts with media executives will show that he had lunch with James Murdoch on occasions which have previously not been reported. They also show, as the Guardian revealed in January, that he visited Rebekah Brooks at her Oxfordshire home over the Christmas period. A Downing Street source said: “We are releasing details of all of the meetings the prime minister has ever had with media executives. This goes right back to the beginning. David took the view that he should release details of meetings with everyone – every lunch and every dinner. This really is an example of transparency.” Lewis said: “I have been asking David Cameron to come clean about his dinner with James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks last Christmas for five months. Confirmation that David Cameron attended this dinner two days after Vince Cable was stripped of his responsibility for the BSkyB deal and in the middle of a quasi-judicial process raises further questions about the prime minister’s judgment. People will want to know whether BSkyB was discussed and what messages were then relayed to Jeremy Hunt.” The list published by Downing Street shows: • The prime minister had a second social engagement with Rebekah Brooks over the Christmas period in addition to a dinner in January at her Oxfordshire home attended by James Murdoch. This was disclosed by the Guardian in January. Downing Street has repeatedly refused to answer questions from the Guardian about this second event for the past few months. • James Murdoch and his wife, Kathryn, lunched at Chequers in November 2010. • Brooks visited Chequers twice, in June 2010 and August 2010. • Colin Myler, former editor of News of the World, met Cameron in July 2010. • Editors and proprietors of other news groups, including Guardian News and Media, met the prime minister. Andy Coulson David Cameron Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers News of the World News International News Corporation Media business Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …PM paid for former News of the World editor to stay over, two months after he quit as media chief amid phone-hacking scandal David Cameron hosted Andy Coulson at Chequers in March, two months after the former News of the World editor resigned as Downing Street director of communications, No 10 has said. In a sign of his determination to stand by the man he described as a “friend”, the prime minister paid out of his own pocket to welcome Coulson for an overnight stay at Chequers. Downing Street disclosed Coulson’s visit to Chequers as it published details of all of Cameron’s contacts with media proprietors and executives since he became Tory leader in 2005. The prime minister had told MPs on Wednesday that he would publish details of the contacts since he became prime minister but he later decided that this should cover all contacts since he became Tory leader. Labour attacked Cameron’s decision to invite Coulson to Chequers two months after his resignation in January, saying it showed an “extraordinary lack of judgment”. Ivan Lewis, the shadow culture secretary, said: “This is yet more evidence of an extraordinary lack of judgment by David Cameron. He hosted Andy Coulson at Chequers after, in the prime minister’s own words, Mr Coulson’s second chance hadn’t worked out. David Cameron may think that this is a good day to bury bad news but he now has an increasing number of serious questions to answer.” The prime minister has come under fire for what Ed Miliband described as a catastrophic misjudgment in taking Coulson into No 10 after the election. Cameron said at a press conference in Downing Street last Friday that he had met his “friend” Coulson since his resignation but not recently or frequently. In the past week he has started to distance himself from Coulson after facing intense criticisms for ignoring warnings from Nick Clegg and Lord Ashdown about the political dangers of bringing Coulson into No 10 after the general election. On Wednesday, Cameron told MPs: “I hired a tabloid editor. I did so on the basis of assurances he gave me that he did not know about the phone hacking and was not involved in criminality. He gave those self-same assurances to the police, to a select committee of this house and under oath to a court of law. If it turns out he lied, it will not just be that he should not have been in government; it will be that he should be prosecuted. But I do believe that we must stick to the principle that you are innocent until proven guilty.” This marked a change in tone from his press conference last Friday in Downing Street. Asked then whether he had been in touch with Coulson, Cameron said: “Yes, I have spoken to him. I have seen him, not recently and not frequently. But when you work with someone for four years, as I did, and you work closely, you do build a friendship, and I became friends with him. I think he did his job for me and the Conservative party and then the country – I think he did it in a very effective way. So, yes, he became a friend and is a friend.” When the phone-hacking affair erupted again earlier this month, Downing Street said that the prime minister stood by a statement he made when Coulson resigned as the No 10 director of communications on 21 January. This said that he had resigned simply because the allegations about phone hacking were making it impossible for him to concentrate on his job. The details of the prime minister’s contacts with media executives will show that he had lunch with James Murdoch on occasions which have previously not been reported. They also show, as the Guardian revealed in January, that he visited Rebekah Brooks at her Oxfordshire home over the Christmas period. A Downing Street source said: “We are releasing details of all of the meetings the prime minister has ever had with media executives. This goes right back to the beginning. David took the view that he should release details of meetings with everyone – every lunch and every dinner. This really is an example of transparency.” Lewis said: “I have been asking David Cameron to come clean about his dinner with James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks last Christmas for five months. Confirmation that David Cameron attended this dinner two days after Vince Cable was stripped of his responsibility for the BSkyB deal and in the middle of a quasi-judicial process raises further questions about the prime minister’s judgment. People will want to know whether BSkyB was discussed and what messages were then relayed to Jeremy Hunt.” The list published by Downing Street shows: • The prime minister had a second social engagement with Rebekah Brooks over the Christmas period in addition to a dinner in January at her Oxfordshire home attended by James Murdoch. This was disclosed by the Guardian in January. Downing Street has repeatedly refused to answer questions from the Guardian about this second event for the past few months. • James Murdoch and his wife, Kathryn, lunched at Chequers in November 2010. • Brooks visited Chequers twice, in June 2010 and August 2010. • Colin Myler, former editor of News of the World, met Cameron in July 2010. • Editors and proprietors of other news groups, including Guardian News and Media, met the prime minister. Andy Coulson David Cameron Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers News of the World News International News Corporation Media business Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
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Italian designer celebrated for relaxed tailoring wins commission to kit out national team for 2012 Games Stratford looks set to rival Paris next summer as the most fashionable place in the world following the announcement that Giorgio Armani will dress the Italian athletes at the 2012 Olympic Games. Armani’s appointment will pitch Italy against Britain on the catwalk as well as the running track, as Stella McCartney is already dressing Team GB. It is thought that the Italian designer’s company EA7 – a sportswear line that is part of the brand’s diffusion line, Emporio Armani – will provide specially designed performance wear for the Italians. He is the third confirmed designer at the Games. In addition to McCartney, Cedella Marley, fashion designer and daughter of reggae legend Bob, is known to be kitting out the Jamaican team under an agreement with Puma. There is speculation that more designers might be appointed to design for their national teams. The commission confirms Armani’s status as the king of Italian fashion. The 77-year-old designer is known for his ability to create wearable clothes, and his fashion empire spans all levels of designer fashion – from haute couture to underwear. Armani is no stranger to the crossover between sport and fashion. Aside from his sportswear line and the occasional appearance at his catwalk shows of surf gear and other sports-inspired designs, Armani has recruited sports stars including David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo and Rafael Nadal to front his blockbuster Emporio Armani underwear campaigns. Armani has interests in the business side of sport – since 2004 he has been part owner of the Milanese basketball team Olimpia Milano. It is a considerable honour to be chosen to represent the country in such a high profile way. It illustrates how much a label is considered to be part of that country’s establishment — the very best it can offer in terms of fashion. But it is not just patriotism on the part of the designers – there is serious commercial gain too, a factor the billionaire designer, who privately owns his company, will no doubt be aware off. The exposure and boost to the designer’s profile is huge – there will be an estimated global audience of 4 billion people watching the opening ceremony, and fans are encouraged to buy related products. Fashion and the Olympics already have a proven relationship. At the Beijing Games in 2008, Ralph Lauren was chosen to dress the US team, producing an opening ceremony suit with a preppy feel. In Athens in 2004, Sophia Kokosalaki – a London-based, Greek-born designer – was responsible for overseeing all the costumes for the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the uniforms for both the teams and officials. US designer Vera Wang, known for her wedding gowns and herself a trained figure skater who represented her country, designed some of the skating costumes for the 2010 winter Games in Vancouver. If Armani’s Olympic designs are in keeping with his design aesthetic it is likely that the kit will focus on easy tailoring rather than the racier aspect of Italian fashion. Fashion designers Olympic Games 2012 Italy Stella McCartney Fashion Europe Imogen Fox guardian.co.uk
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UN applauds move to deal with dramatic increase in refugees fleeing drought and conflict in Somalia since the beginning of the year The Kenyan government has announced it will open a fourth refugee camp at Dadaab to accommodate the thousands of people fleeing drought and conflict in Somalia. According to reports on Thursday, Kenya’s prime minister, Raila Odinga, who visited Dadaab this week, said Ifo II camp would be opened on humanitarian grounds . The UN high commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres, has written to both Odinga and Mwai Kibaki, the president of Kenya, applauding the decision and promising the agency’s full support. Since Dadaab opened in 1991 to accommodate refugees escaping civil war in Somalia, a steady stream of people have been arriving there. However, severe food shortages and continued violence in Somalia have resulted in a dramatic increase in numbers since the beginning of the year, putting additional strain on already beleaguered resources. Dadaab, one of the world’s largest, most congested refugee camps, was declared full in 2008, but the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, said about 1,300 Somali refugees had recently been arriving daily. Up to five families are sharing plots designed for one family. Thousands of people are currently living in makeshift shelter outside the complex. NGOs have been pressing the Kenyan government to open the extension camp, which is expected to be operational within the next 10 days. The UNHCR said on Friday it expected its first delivery of tents for the new camp to arrive in Nairobi on Sunday. Six subsequent flights carrying equipment are expected over the next two weeks. According to the UN, as of Wednesday the total number of refugees in and around Dadaab was 439,000 – 380,000 registered and another 59,000 new arrivals living on the outskirts of the three existing camps, Ifo, Hagadera and Dagahaley. A UNHCR official at Dadaab, Fafa Attidzah, told AP the agency was “thankful” Ifo II has been given the go-ahead to open. “We are just happy and again we are thankful and we are grateful to the Kenyan government and to the Kenyan people for having allowed these refugees who are suffering to have a little bit of dignity by having somewhere where they could be accommodated,” Attidzah reportedly said. The NGO Médecins Sans Frontières, which has been working in Dadaab for 14 years, reported this week that extreme heat, lack of water and sanitation, delays in the registration of new arrivals and provision of food rations had resulted in difficult living conditions for new arrivals. There are particular concerns over the number of children suffering from malnutrition. MSF said on Thursday that last month’s three-day rapid nutritional assessment, during which 500 children between the ages of six months and five years were measured and weighed, found 37% were suffering from global acute malnutrition; of these, 17% were severely affected, with a high risk of death. Children up to the age of 10 were also showing elevated rates of malnutrition. “There is a high level of malnutrition. We are extremely concerned,” said Monica Rull, head of MSF projects in Kenya and Somalia. “I expected to find a difficult situation but not a catastrophic one,” explained Anita Sackl, the co-ordinator of the nutritional assessment. “The majority of new arrivals actually fled because they had nothing to eat, not just because their country has been at war for decades,” she added. Thousands of Somali refugees have also been crossing the border into Ethiopia and Djibouti. As of 30 June, more than 54,000 refugees had arrived in the Dolo Ado region of Ethiopia since the beginning of the year, bringing the total number of Somali refugees in Ethiopia to more than 135,000. A third refugee camp was opened in Dolo Ado last month. The UN estimates that at least 10 million people in east Africa will be in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of severe food shortages, failed harvest, rising food prices and conflict in the region. The UN and the UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee have launched appeals for funds to address the crisis. On Thursday, Kenya’s government pledged 9bn Kenyan shillings ($100m) to provide supplies to those hit by the drought. Malnutrition Kenya Somalia Africa Refugees Aid Ethiopia Famine Liz Ford guardian.co.uk
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US defence department wants to go on offensive after revealing hackers obtained 24,000 key files in March The Pentagon may have to redesign some of its weapons system after a foreign intelligence service hacked into systems at a corporate contractor and obtained 24,000 key files in March. The incursion was one of the worst single incidents the US defence department has seen. Though it did not name the contractor nor the country suspected of carrying out the attack, Lockheed Martin said in May that it had come under attack. China and Russia have frequently been suspected of carrying out internet espionage, with China the most prominent in recent years. US defence chiefs now think they need to have a means of response against such incursions. “We’re on a path that is too predictable, way too predictable,” General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said on Thursday. “It’s purely defensive. There is no penalty for attacking us now. We have to figure out a way to change that.” Hours later, the deputy defence secretary, William Lynn, presented a strategy whose thrust, he said, is defensive and focused on “denying the benefit of an attack”. Lynn revealed that over the year key files including plans for missile-tracking systems, satellite navigation, surveillance drones and even jet fighters have been stolen from systems. “A great deal of it concerns our most sensitive systems, including aircraft avionics, surveillance technologies, satellite communications systems and network security protocols,” he said. Attacks on defence-related contractors and systems are growing increasingly sophisticated. The hackers who broke into Lockheed Martin’s systems had first raided the systems of EMC’s security subsidiary RSA Security which provides cryptographic “keys” used to scramble and decode files, in order to gain remote access to staff computers. Cartwright said US military commanders were now devoting 90% of attention to building better firewalls and only 10% to ways of deterring hackers from attacking. He said a better strategy would be the reverse, focusing almost entirely on attack. The defence department’s new strategy relies on deploying sensors, software and code to detect and stop intrusions before they affect operations. “If an attack will not have its intended effect, those who wish us harm will have less reason to target us through cyberspace in the first place,” Lynn said. “Current countermeasures have not stopped this outflow of sensitive information. We need to do more to guard our digital storehouses of design innovation.” Cartwright suggested that stronger deterrents would be needed. “We are supposed to be offshore convincing people if they attack, it won’t be free,” he said, adding that adversaries should know that the US has “the capability and capacity to do something about it”. James Lewis, an expert on computer network warfare at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the New York Times the Pentagon’s computer networks were vulnerable to security gaps in the systems of allies with whom the military cooperates. America’s allies are “all over the map” on cybersecurity issues, Lewis said. “Some are very, very capable and some are clueless.” Lynn said most major efforts to penetrate crucial military computer networks were still undertaken by large rival nations. “US military power offers a strong deterrent against overtly destructive attacks,” he said. “Although attribution in cyberspace can be difficult, the risk of discovery and response for a major nation is still too great to risk launching destructive attacks against the United States.” He warned that the technical expertise needed to carry out harmful internet raids was certain to migrate to smaller rogue states and to non-state actors, in particular terrorists. If a terrorist group obtains “disruptive or destructive cybertools, we have to assume they will strike with little hesitation,” Lynn said. The Democrat congressman, Jim Langevin, co-founder of the congressional cyber security caucus, told the Washington Post the plan was a good start but that key areas were missing. “What are acceptable red lines for actions in cyberspace?” Langevin asked. “Does data theft or disruption rise to the level of warfare, or do we have to see a physical event, such as an attack on our power grid, before we respond militarily?”. Lynn said the US has not yet been hit by an act of cyberwar and that there was deterrent value in remaining ambiguous about what would constitute one. But ultimately, he said, it is the president and the Congress that would decide that the human or economic damage is severe enough to consider a cyber event an act of war. Hacking Data and computer security Internet Computing United States US national security Charles Arthur guardian.co.uk
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