Balado, Kinross Jarvis Cocker once famously made headlines by wiggling his bum in front of Michael Jackson at the Brit awards, and on Sunday night he courted tabloid infamy again by pretending to wipe his posterior with the last edition of News of the World at T in the Park. “That’s all this is good for,” he sneered during Pulp’s triumphant set. So trusted is its promise of a party of epic proportions, the UK’s second biggest music festival has become a rite of passage for young Scots and a ritual for older ones that sells out long before the lineup is announced. A threatened deluge for the most part held off – at least until the final day – and sunshine occasionally split the clouds. This was a vintage year for T in the Park. The lineup boasted such an embarrassment of headliners that Beyoncé had to play second fiddle to Coldplay on Saturday night. Queen B – at her second and final UK festival appearance this summer – offered a more compact, hour-long version of her glorious Glastonbury set, and arguably bettered it. From the high-impact opener of Crazy in Love to a breathless Destiny’s Child medley, she was a class apart. Her undeniable star quality rubbed off on a sea of girls perched on friends’ shoulders during Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), their left hands twisting in the air as the sun eased over the hills behind them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there were lulls in a bill diluted by the necessity to try and offer something for everyone. Friendly Fires’ full-throttle indie raving felt like natural festival fare; less so lightweight turns from popsters Ke$ha and the Saturdays. As ever there were a smattering of heritage acts who brought some reliable fun. The party-starting mood of Tom Jones on Friday was captured by the simultaneously hilarious and mortifying sight of a chubby bloke doing a striptease in the mud to You Can Leave Your Hat On. Debbie Harry did an admirable job of stoking the atmosphere as the heavens opened during Blondie’s Sunday afternoon greatest-hits set. After Pulp’s memorable return to the stage in Scotland, it was left to Foo Fighters at the last to battle the worsening elements, and win, before the festival rounded off with a fireworks and lone-bagpiper finale. Rating: 4/5 T in the Park Pop and rock Pulp Jarvis Cocker Beyoncé Tom Jones Blondie Foo Fighters News of the World guardian.co.uk
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• Italian 10-year bond yields hit 5.4% • Euro drops on fears of another bailout • Eurozone finance ministers meet over crisis Fears that Italy will be forced to seek a bailout sent Italian government bonds falling on Monday, as Europe’s most senior finance ministers gathered to discuss the ongoing eurozone debt crisis . The euro also dropped sharply, as City traders and analysts warned that Italy could be close to becoming the fourth member of the eurozone to require financial help. The concern was shared in Europe’s stock markets, where shares also lost ground. The yield, or interest rate, on an Italian 10-year government bond jumped to 5.4%, closer to the 7% level which is generally seen as unsustainable. “What will really concentrate the mind of the finance ministers will be the recent upward trend in Italian government bond yields,” said Gary Jenkins, head of fixed income research at Evolution Securities. “What would keep me awake at night if I was a European finance minister is that we are only about 2% away from a potential disaster scenario.” European Council president Herman Van Rompuy was scheduled to meet ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet, EU commission president José Manuel Barroso, EU commissioner Olli Rehn and Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the group of eurozone finance ministers, at 11am BST to discuss the crisis. Clouds have been gathering over Italy since Friday, when shares in several Italian banks fell sharply over concerns that they would fail the next round of EU stress tests . Economists have warned that the eurozone lacks the firepower to fund a bailout of Italy. German newspaper Die Welt reported on Monday that the European Central Bank is considering doubling its existing stabilisation mechanism to €1.5 trillion. “We are seeing contagion spreading to Italy. The bailout facility as it stands would be nowhere near big enough to deal with Italy,” Adam Cole, head of global currency strategy at Royal Bank of Canada Europe, told Bloomberg. The Italian blue-chip index, the FTSE MIB index, fell by 1.35%, while the Spanish Ibex lost 1.7%. Traders in London said the eurozone crisis was dominating attention again, with the FTSE 100 falling 13 points to 5976. “The risk is that we may well have already seen the best of the stock market strength for the moment,” said Yusuf Heusen, senior sales trader at IG Index. The euro lost more than a cent against the dollar, trading around $1.411. The cost of insuring the debts of Europe’s weaker members also rose on Monday. The Italian five-year credit default swap rose by 32 basis points to 281bp, which means it would cost €281,000 a year to insure €10m of Italian debt. According to the Financial Times , EU leaders are now preparing for Greece to default on some of its debts – abandoning hopes that private creditors might roll over their borrowings. Gavan Nolan, director of credit research at Markit, said this had driven up the cost of insuring Greek, Portuguese, Spanish and Irish government bonds. European debt crisis European banks Italy Europe Graeme Wearden guardian.co.uk
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Deputy prime minister meets family of Milly Dowler, whose lawyer has called on Rebekah Brooks to quit her position The deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has intervened in the row over News Corporation’s bid to take over BSkyB to make a direct appeal to Rupert Murdoch to “do the decent thing” and drop the deal. He said Murdoch should look at the public revulsion towards allegations about phone hacking, payments to police and an “industrial scale” cover-up at News International and reconsider his bid. It came after the deputy prime minister met the family of murdered teenager Milly Dowler, whose phone was allegedly hacked by the News of the World. The Dowler family’s lawyer, Mark Lewis, also called on Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, to “do the honourable thing” and quit. Clegg told the BBC: “On the BSkyB bid, Rupert Murdoch is now in town in London seeking to sort things out. I would simply say to him, look how people feel about this. Look at how the country has reacted with revulsion to the revelations. “So do the decent and sensible thing and reconsider: think again about your bid for BSkyB. “Listening to Bob, Sally and Gemma Dowler, it reminds you that it is innocent families like them who have paid a very heavy price for truly grotesque journalistic practices, which are simply beneath contempt. We owe it to the Dowlers and other innocent victims of hacking to get these inquiries right, to make sure they are really strong, [so] they can get to the bottom of what happened and make sure it never happens again.” The dramatic intervention came as the government scrambled to solve the conundrum of how to delay or even veto the media magnate’s bid to gain 100% of BSkyB without facing legal action. Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, on Monday wrote to the media regulator Ofcom asking it to examine the recent revelations to see if they have any bearing on whether the Murdochs are “fit and proper” people to hold large broadcasting licences in the UK. Labour is threatening a Commons vote on Wednesday on the issue, which would not be legally binding but would make it almost impossible for the government not to act. Several senior Lib Dems have indicated that they could back such a vote if it is not too partisan. Clegg was speaking after a 50-minute meeting with the Dowler family to discuss their views on how the two inquiries the government is instigating should be carried out. The mother, father and sister of Milly Dowler – whose phone was allegedly hacked by investigators working for the News of the World in the days after she went missing – pushed Clegg to hold broad inquiries, not just restricted to the practices at the News of the World or the allegations of press payments to the Metropolitan police, but to other forces as well. Speaking from the steps of the cabinet office, the Dowler family’s lawyer Mark Lewis said his clients “take the view that Rebekah Brooks should do the honourable thing”. “They don’t see why she should stay in the job. They see this as something that went right to the top. She was editor of the News of the World at the time that Milly was taken in 2002. She should take editorial responsibility.” The former Scotland Yard deputy assistant commissioner Brian Paddick, who was also hacked and also attended the meeting, said Surrey police should have told the Dowler family that they may have been targeted. He told the press conference: “Apparently Surrey police knew at the time that the phone was being hacked into. Why they didn’t tell the family at all … is a matter for Surrey police to answer. What it does show is that this relationship between the police and the press is not restricted to the Metropolitan police.” Rupert Murdoch Nick Clegg Phone hacking BSkyB News International Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers News of the World Rebekah Brooks Milly Dowler Press freedom Liberal Democrats Brian Paddick Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
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From Scotland to Switzerland, playing everything from metal to mambo, some of the world’s biggest acts performed at festivals across Europe at the weekend
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Safety and ‘sense of security’ the top priority, government says, as country faces power shortages at hottest time of year Japan’s idle nuclear reactors will not be allowed to restart unless it is proven they can survive giant tsunamis and other extreme events, the country’s government has said. But with no timetable decided for two rounds of “stress tests” and electricity demand soon to reach its summer peak, concern is growing that Japan may experience power shortages at the hottest time of year. The first round of tests will focus on reactors that have completed routine safety checks and would have already restarted had the accident at Fukushima Daiichi power plant not plunged Japan’s nuclear industry into crisis. The tests will examine the reactors’ ability to withstand natural onslaughts of far greater force than previously factored into safety checks. They will, for example, examine their ability to withstand an unusually severe event similar to the magnitude-9 earthquake and 15m tsunami that knocked out back-up generators at Fukushima Daiichi, leading to core meltdowns in three reactors. In the second stage, all of Japan’s nuclear power facilities will undergo a general safety assessment. Only 19 of the country’s 54 nuclear reactors are in operation due to delays in restarting those that have undergone maintenance checks or were shut down after the 11 March tsunami. In addition, reactors that are operating could be forced to close immediately if they fail the first round of tests, the government has said in a statement. As it attempts to calm public fears over safety, the government must contemplate a worst-case scenario in which every last nuclear reactor will be idle by next April as more come offline for regular inspections. That would seriously compromise the country’s ability to produce enough electricity and could result in power shortages lasting into the summer of 2012. Major users of electricity have already been told they must cut peak power use by 15% from this month to avoid blackouts this summer. Nuclear provided about 30% of Japan’s energy before the crisis. Plans to increase supply to more than 50% by 2030 were ditched after the prime minister, Naoto Kan, ordered a review of energy policy and promised a much bigger post-Fukushima role for renewables. “Safety and a sense of security are the top priority,” said Yukio Edano, the chief cabinet secretary. “One the other hand the government must fulfil its responsibility to provide a stable supply of electricity … we will make every effort to secure that in the medium and long term.” Edano could not say when the first round of tests would begin, only that they would happen “soon” and be overseen by Japan’s nuclear safety commission, which is considered more independent of the government than the nuclear safety agency. Last week’s surprise decision to conduct stress tests has caused confusion among the public and angered industry officials who want idle reactors restarted as soon as possible. In June government officials, citing reviews by the nuclear safety agency, said reactors that had been shut down for regular checks were safe to restart. At the time the economy minister, Banri Kaieda, said: “There is no problem regarding safety concerning the continued operation and restart of nuclear power stations.” On Friday Kan apologised for dithering over the tests, which will be modelled on those being conducted on reactors in European Union member states. “My instructions were inadequate and came too late,” he said. “I take responsibility for that.” Officials in Fukushima prefecture said they had detected high levels of radioactive caesium in straw fed to cattle at a farm in Minamisoma, a town near the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Tests were carried out on feed and water samples from the farm after caesium at levels three to six times higher than the provisional legal limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram were found in 11 cows, according to the Tokyo metropolitan government. The cows had been shipped to a meat packing plant in Tokyo and slaughtered but their meat did not go on sale, Kyodo news agency said. Japan disaster Nuclear power Japan Energy Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
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• Southern Cross to be broken up • 500 homes could still be sold on • Uncertainty continues for residents Stricken care home chain Southern Cross is being broken up after attempts to rescue the company floundered. Britain’s largest operator of care homes told the City that its 750 homes are being taken over by its landlords, a move which brings more uncertainty for some of its residents. The decision also means that shareholders in the company will be wiped out. Under this plan, 250 of Southern Cross’s homes will be transferred to landlords who are either care operators already or who have “strong links” to firms who provide such services. The owners of the remaining 500 homes, though, are still “finalising their plans”, which could involve homes being sold. “My objective, and that of my team, is to continue to provide excellent care to every resident and to manage the programme of transition professionally,” said chief executive Jamie Buchan. Southern Cross had hoped to hammer out a deal with its landlords that would have allowed the company to keep operating but admitted on Monday that all landlords had said they would leave the group – as predicted last month . Southern Cross itself will therefore cease to be a care provider once the handover has been completed. “As part of the plan, in addition to ensuring continuity of care to residents, all payments to trade creditors are to be maintained and all home-based staff transferred on their current terms,” the group said. Southern Cross’s future has been hanging in the balance since March, when it warned that its rental bill was unsustainable . The crisis escalated when the company, which has been hit by cutbacks by local authorities and rising operating costs, cut rent payments to its landlords by 30%. Controversially, Southern Cross had followed a policy of buying homes, then selling them on to landlords and leasing them back again. Trading in Southern Cross shares have been suspended. They had already fallen to just 6.25p, having been worth £6 in late 2007. Southern Cross Healthcare Healthcare industry Long-term care Social care Graeme Wearden guardian.co.uk
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Shares in TV network crash as culture secretary asks regulators whether News Corp remains ‘fit and proper’ owner The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is writing to Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading seeking advice over News Corporation’s bid for BSkyB in the light of phone-hacking revelations and the closure of the News of the World. The news came as BSkyB shares crashed to £7 in early trading, down 6.7% and back to the level of the original News Corp bid. Hunt will ask Ofcom and the OFT, which have been advising him on the bid, whether the spate of revelations that led last week to the closure of the News of the World meant they would take a different view on the deal – and if so, whether they believed the Competition Commission should examine it. Hunt would ask them to look at three aspects, the BBC said , most notably whether News Corporation’s guarantees made in January about the TV network’s independence and future could be trusted in view of the new phone-hacking developments. Additionally, Hunt will ask Ofcom, the media regulator, if the company remains a “fit and proper” owner of BSkyB and whether the closure of the News of the World means the media plurality landscape needs re-examination. The move could be a huge blow to Rupert Murdoch’s empire, suggesting that even the shock closure of the newspaper at the centre of the hacking scandal has not been sufficient to safeguard the BSkyB deal. The bid also looks in potential jeopardy from a Labour House of Commons motion on Wednesday calling for it to be delayed. The motion looks set to receive strong Liberal Democrat support. The Lib Dem party president, the Cumbria MP Tim Farron, told BBC Radio 4 this seemed very likely. “If a legally worded motion comes to the House opposing a further Murdoch takeover of BSkyB I can’t see how Liberal Democrats would vote against that. It is no secret that Liberal Democrats have always opposed the lack of plurality in our media market, and in particular have felt that Rupert Murdoch’s influence on British politics through the media has been nefarious. We’ve thought that for decades.” In yet more bad news for News Corporation’s newspaper arm, News International, police are reportedly seeking to interview its chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, a former News of the World editor. Brooks, whose continued tenure as CEO has prompted widespread criticism, will be interviewed as a potential witness rather than a suspect. Les Hinton, Murdoch’s lifelong lieutenant and closest adviser, also faces questions over whether he saw a 2007 internal News International report that found evidence of phone hacking was more widespread than admitted by the company before he testified to a parliamentary committee that the practice was limited to a single rogue reporter. Last week’s dramatic events were sparked by a Guardian report that News of the World journalists hacked into the mobile phone messages of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler after she disappeared – even deleting some messages, making her family believe she was alive. On Monday the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, is meeting Milly’s mother and sister at an event organised by the Media Standards Trust. BSkyB BSkyB News Corporation Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Media business Les Hinton Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Intensity of blast at Evangelos Florakis navy base caused damage to nearby town but it remains unclear what triggered it A massive explosion has ripped through a military base in southern Cyprus with at least eight people reported dead, according to the official news agency. Information was scant from the scene of the blast at the Evangelos Florakis navy base. “There are a number of dead which we cannot confirm yet,” a spokesperson for the ministry of defence said. It was unclear what triggered the explosion, which news reports said took place in a munitions dump. The military base had munitions in storage which Cyprus had confiscated from the Monchegorsk, a vessel sailing from Iran to Syria in 2009. The intensity of the blast caused extensive damage to a neighbouring community, and in a holiday resort 3km from the site windows and doors of beachside restaurants were blown out. “The place looks like it was hit by a massive bomb,” a Reuters witness said. Further details soon. Cyprus Europe guardian.co.uk
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Dimos Anastasiadis – Ta Kalokairia Tha ‘Mai Edw (New 2011 Summer Remix) The Electric Moccasins – A Place Apart Apple – iPad 2 – App – AirPlay GodIsInMe2011 says: Independent Artist Sumbmit your music to http://t.co/HCEYToL for Airplay on ViM 3D Radio
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Click here to view this media Tea party favorite Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) said Sunday that there was no risk of “major economic consequences” if the debt limit was not raised by Aug. 2. “I think the president has been gaming Republicans,” DeMint told Fox News’ Bret Baier. “He has been talking about this for six months. The only proposal he sent us is his budget to raise the debt $10 trillion. So it’s hard to take him seriously here.” “Thousands of Americans and many Republicans in Congress are uniting around the idea that we will give the president his increase in the debt limit in return for some reasonable cuts in spending this year, some caps on spending over the next ten years, his agreement to send balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, to the states for them to ratify,” he added. “Do you believe, Senator, that the country risks default or major economic consequences if the debt ceiling is not raised on August 2nd — by August 2nd?” Baier asked. “No, I don’t,” DeMint insisted. “I think [Treasury] Secretary Geithner has been irresponsible. He’s playing Chicken Little here.” “We will pay the debts if it’s the last dollar we have. There are enough assets in Social Security and Medicare to pay the benefits of those programs for several years. Other programs can be funded from tax revenue. There would certainly be disruption, Bret, but this is not a deadline we should rush and make a bad deal and do something that cuts benefits from seniors without giving them better choices.” Baier pressed the South Carolina Republican on House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) claim that the economy would be in ” jeopardy ” if the debt ceiling wasn’t raised by Aug. 2. “Well, if the president and Secretary Geithner have not planned for contingencies — and we have sent them letters to tell them they needed to — there would certainly be disruption. But the president is required by law to pay our debts. He is required to pay Social Security and Medicare,” DeMint said.
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