Click here to view this media Tom Petty may be taking legal action to make sure Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann stops using his songs at her campaign events. “NBC News: @TomPetty unhappy with Michele Bachmann’s use of ‘American Girl’ and in process of issuing [a cease and desist] letter,” Matt Ortega reported on Twitter only hours after hours after Bachmann used the popular song to kick off her campaign. NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell confirmed that report Monday night. “And details matter, and when Bachmann left the stage here, her campaign played the Tom Petty hit song, ‘American Girl,’” O’Donnell said. “Turns out Petty isn’t pleased. His manager says they will ask the Bachmann campaign not to use that song.” Petty also issued a cease and desist letter to then-Governor George W. Bush for illegally using “I won’t back down” at his rallies. “The impression that you and your campaign have been endorsed by Tom Petty, which is not true,” music publisher Wixen Music Publishing Inc. told the Bush campaign . To make matters worse for Bachmann, former RNC Online Communications Director Liz Mair made this observation about the use of Petty’s tune: “Isn’t that what the kidnapped politician’s daughter was singing in ‘Silence of the Lambs?’ Mair appears to have since deleted that tweet. It’s been a tough campaign roll out for the Minnesota Republican. On Sunday, Fox News’ Chris Wallace asked if she was a “flake.” And prior to Monday’s official announcement that she was seeking the presidency, Bachmann confused actor John Wayne with serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
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Association of Teachers and Lecturers general secretary says members threatened with disciplinary action if they strike Teachers who are planning to join Thursday’s strike are being intimidated and told they could face disciplinary action if they walk out over pension reforms, a teaching union has claimed. Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers – which is striking for the first time in its 127-year history – said her members had reported being threatened with disciplinary action if they strike, or told that their actions would bring their school into disrepute. One London borough, Conservative-led Hammersmith and Fulham, wrote to staff to tell them to “ignore plans to strike” and that it was advising those intent on taking part in the walkout that they should make up the time to pupils. Helen Binmore, the borough’s cabinet member for children’s services, said: “We have suggested to the schools that, as the strike is a foreseen closure, they should consider offering their pupils an additional day’s education where possible.” The government said that more than 5,300 of England’s 23,000 schools were expected to be affected by the strike with nearly 3,300 confirming they will close. The education secretary, Michael Gove, was in talks with individual union leaders by phone in an attempt to avoid strikes. Bousted said the Hammersmith and Fulham letter was a “deliberate move to intimidate” teachers, and the suggestion that teachers should work an extra day to make up for strike action was “completely inaccurate and wrong”. Gove said that 3,206 state schools in England are confirmed to be closing on Thursday along with 84 academies. A further 2,206 state schools and 128 academies will be partially closed. The rest are unknown but government officials will be updating the figures on Wednesday. Teaching Trade unions Schools Public sector pensions Public sector cuts Public finance Michael Gove Hélène Mulholland Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Kabul attack: Nato kills Taliban squad members who launched suicide assault
June 28, 2011 No Comment
Insurgents claim to have killed or wounded 50 in raid mounted on eve of high-level Afghanistan transition talks Nato helicopters fired on and killed members of a Taliban squad who attacked a landmark Kabul hotel on Tuesday night where senior Afghan officials were staying. At least six Taliban, some of them suicide bombers, were involved in the assault on the Inter-Continental, which began when militants in civilian clothes burst into the hotel while many guests were in the dining room and others were attending at least two receptions, including a wedding party. The Nato rocket attack appeared to have brought an end to the fighting, which lasted for more than four hours. The bodies of six civilians, believed to be hotel employees, were found by police, according to the Afghan interior ministry. From miles across the city, residents could see the blacked-out hotel on a hilltop on the western outskirts of Kabul illuminated by red tracer bullets and explosions. Afghan police and commandos flocked to the hotel to engage the attackers with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades soon after the attack began at about 9.30pm. According to the authorities, at least two attackers were shot dead and four blew themselves up, a tactic that has been used several times before on fortified buildings, including hotels, in the capital. The Taliban’s spokesman was quick to claim credit for the assault, claiming he had been in contact with one of the attackers inside the hotel. The spokesman told Associated Press: “One of our fighters called on a mobile phone and said: ‘We have gotten on to all the hotel floors and the attack is going according to the plan. We have killed and wounded 50 foreign and local enemies. We are in the corridors of the hotel now taking guests out of their rooms – mostly foreigners. We broke down the doors and took them out one by one.”‘ His claim was denied by senior Kabul police officer Mohammad Zahir, who said the militants had been isolated on a “small section of the roof” and had not been able to go around the hotel, room to room. He said an unknown number of insurgents were firing from positions outside the hotel and that about five officers, including Zahir himself, had been wounded. The insurgents were armed with machine guns, anti-aircraft weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades, according to Samoonyar Mohammad Zaman, a security officer for the interior ministry, who said there were 60 to 70 guests at the hotel. Another Afghan official said a group of senior provincial officials had been staying at the hotel at the time. Bette Dam , a Dutch journalist at the scene, reported on Twitter that he had seen at least four rocket-propelled grenades being launched from the hotel into the nearby house belonging to Mohammad Qasim Fahim, one of the country’s vice-presidents. Afghanistan’s interior minister, General Besmellah Khan, was reported to be present and was overseeing operations along with the city’s police chief and an Afghan army commando unit. Jawid, a guest at the hotel, told AP he jumped out of a one-storey window to escape the shooting. “I was running with my family,” he said. “There was shooting. The restaurant was full with guests.” The 1960s hotel, which has at least 200 rooms and is no longer formally part of the Intercontinental chain, is not the magnet to western travellers it once was, many of whom now stay in more recently built hotels. But it is popular with well-heeled Afghans and leading political figures, and it hosts a number of important conferences each year. The last major attack on a similar hotel used by foreigners was in January 2008, when several Taliban gunmen killed six people in a commando-style attack on the nearby Serena hotel, which has been hit in several random rocket attacks since then. However, the latest attack on such a well-defended hotel, which is impossible to approach without going through at least two security checkpoints, is embarrassing to the Afghan government as it prepares to take responsibility for security in Kabul province as part of much vaunted “transition” strategy. The attack came the night before the start of a conference about the gradual transition of civil and military responsibility from foreign forces to Afghans, although an Afghan government official told reporters that the hotel was not one of the venues to be used by the conference or its delegates. Afghan authorities have already been nominally in charge of Kabul for some time. Attacks in the Afghan capital have been relatively rare, although violence has increased since the 2 May killing of Osama bin Laden in a US raid in Pakistan and since the start of the Taliban’s annual spring offensive. On 18 June, insurgents wearing Afghan army uniforms stormed a police station near the presidential palace and opened fire on officers, killing nine. Earlier on Tuesday, officials from the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan met in Kabul to discuss prospects for making peace with the Taliban. “The fact that we are discussing reconciliation in great detail is success and progress, but challenges remain and we are reminded of that on an almost daily basis by violence,” Jawed Ludin, Afghanistan’s deputy foreign minister, said at a news conference. Afghanistan Taliban Nato Jon Boone guardian.co.uk
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Transformers 3 : Dark of the Moon (2011) EXCLUSIVE Sneak Peek Clip ‘Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon’ Berlin/London Premiere Pics & New Posters Shia LaBeouf Spills Intimate “Details” iloveShyRose says: RT @tmz : Shia LaBeouf admits to hooking up with Megan Fox on the set of Transformers. Was she dating Brian Austin Green though? http://t.co/fVlYXbE
Continue reading …Judge rules Iris Robinson injunction application to be considered in private
June 28, 2011 No Comment
Lord chief justice cites development of internet as one of the reasons for decision to hold proceedings behind closed doors A judge has ruled tonight that a bid by former MP Iris Robinson to ban surveillance of her by journalists and the publication of her medical details must be held in private because of the dangers that Twitter and other social network sites could pose to her. Northern Ireland’s lord chief justice, Sir Declan Morgan, said the development of Twitter and other related sites could mean her personal information leaking out from an open court even with reporting restrictions imposed. Sir Declan made the ruling because “potential internet disclosure could increase the threat of self-harm or suicide”. In a judgment released on Tuesday evening, he stated that Iris Robinson’s right to life under the European Convention on Human Rights meant her application for a long-term injunction must take place behind closed doors. Sir Declan, sitting in the Court of Appeal with lord justices Higgins and Girvan, said: “We are satisfied that we should take judicial notice of the fact that social networking sites, Twitter and the internet generally now provides an alternative means of publication to traditional daily or Sunday newspapers.” “Although the numbers of persons to whom the publication is made may be considerably less than the circulation of a popular Sunday newspaper, publication on the internet is difficult to control and in particular the source of the publication may be outside the jurisdiction of the court.” “The hearing of the application will inevitably involve the discussion of aspects of the appellant’s treatment and condition. “We consider that there is a real danger that if these proceedings were open to the public, the information disclosed in the hearing would be disseminated on the internet, even if a reporting restriction was imposed.” The wife of First Minister Peter Robinson left politics amid revelations about her extra-marital affair with a then teenage businessman. The former Strangford MP suffered severe mental ill-health and depression following revelations about her private life. She issued a writ for breach of confidence/misuse of private information, harassment and breach of her rights after the Sunday World newspaper published articles and photographs of her in London. She is also seeking an injunction to prevent future surveillance, photographs being taken of her while she receives medical treatment, and publication of information about her mental health. However, despite his court application she has been seen in public most notably back in May when the ex-MP accompanied her husband to the Queen’s keynote speech at Dublin Castle during the four-day British Royal visit to Ireland. The Robinson family fear that her medical details are in the possession of some journalists. Northern Ireland Injunctions Twitter Internet Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk
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Culture minister says country will take serious action over films that ‘ruin Muslims’ sanctity’ Iran’s minister of cultural and Islamic guidance has attacked an upcoming BBC2 documentary series on the life of the founder of Islam, the prophet Muhammad, saying the “enemy” was attempting to “ruin Muslims’ sanctity”. The three-part series, The Life of Muhammad, presented by Rageh Omaar, a Somali-born British Middle East correspondent for Al Jazeera English, is scheduled to be broadcast on BBC2 in mid-July and has been drawing increasing criticism from senior figures in Iran. The documentary makers say it seeks to “retrace the actual footsteps of the prophet” from his birthplace in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, his struggles with his prophetic role and divine revelations, his migration to Medina and establishment of the first Islamic constitution before his final return to Mecca following armed conflicts. But the Iranian culture minister, Mohammad Hosseini, who has not seen the programme, said in an interview on Monday that he was worried about the BBC film. Speaking to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, he said: “The BBC’s decision to make a documentary on the life of [the] prophet Muhammad seems dubious and if our suspicions are proved to be correct, we will certainly take serious action.” Hosseini added: “What the enemy is trying to do in ruining the Muslims’ sanctity is definitely much more than causing us to react and unfortunately, some Islamic countries are not taking this issue seriously. One way to show objections is to express condemnation of the West over their despicable actions.” Iran and the West have previously clashed, famously, over publication of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses in 1988 and more recently in the row over threats to burn the Qur’an by a US pastor. It is thought officials in Iran, where the population is predominantly Shia, could be worried that the BBC2 documentary might only be limited to a Sunni interpretation of Muhammad’s life. But Aaqil Ahmed, the BBC’s commissioning editor for religion and ethics, told the Guardian that they had consulted a Shia scholar for
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Labour and Tory MPs attack prison plans to limit remand in custody and tackle explosion in use of indeterminate sentences The justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, faces another embarrassing U-turn over his controversial sentencing reforms on Wednesday as the Labour frontbench combines with rightwing Tory MPs to further attack his prison plans. Tory backbenchers and Labour spokesmen served notice on Tuesday night that they would fight Clarke’s plans to limit the use of remand in custody and tackle the explosion in the use of indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPPs). Clarke’s Commons opponents scent fresh blood after last week’s U-turn when Downing Street disowned his plan to introduce a 50% maximum discount for early guilty pleas, although it would have stabilised the growth in the record 85,000 prison population in England and Wales. The move took out 3,400 of the 6,000 prison places Clarke was hoping to save over four years as part of his “rehabilitation revolution” and left him with a £140m hole in his spending plans. A fresh revolt against his plans to limit the use of remand in custody would lose a further 1,300 saved places and mean he would have to find a further £40m from his justice budget. The IPP reforms would have saved 600 prison places and £10m. Clarke is expected to battle on Wednesday to save what remains of his reforms when he opens the Commons second reading of his legal aid, sentencing and punishment bill. He further infuriated the Tory right on Tuesday when he insisted the only change in the law on self-defence – hailed last week by the tabloids as a “bash a burglar charter” when announced by Downing Street – would be a further clarification of the law. It comes as a supreme court justice, Lady Hale, warned that £350m legal aid cuts in the bill would hit the “poorest and most vulnerable in society” and amid predictions that more than one-third of law centres in England and Wales would have to close as result. In a speech to the Law Society on Monday, she said: “There is a well-known ironic saying … that in England, justice is open to all – like the Ritz. Courts are and should be a last resort but they should be a last resort which is accessible to all, rich and poor alike. The big society will be the loser if everyone does not believe that the law is there for them.” Labour’s shadow justice secretary, Sadiq Khan, gave Clark a taste of the argument to come on Tuesday when he cited the opposition of victims and witnesses commissioner Louise Casey, circuit judges and magistrates to the plan to take away from courts the option of remanding in custody defendants who are unlikely to receive a prison sentence if convicted. Defendants on domestic violence charges have already been exempted from the move. Khan said that banning the use of remand in this way was simply a cost-cutting measure to reduce prison numbers which undermined a vital tool of the courts. Khan also served notice that Labour would oppose any plans to “water down the protection given to the public” by IPPs, claiming the government’s proposal to review their use showed it was out of touch with public concerns. The rightwing Tory MP for Shipley, Philip Davies, Clarke’s self-appointed bugbear on the Tory backbenches, also weighed in against any reform of IPPs, describing the sentences as “the single best part of the criminal justice system”. Clarke strongly defended his plans, saying there were now 6,000 IPP prisoners without a definite release date. The IPP system, which has been condemned as a national scandal by prison governors, includes more than 3,000 prisoners who had already passed their tariff indicative release date: “They’re only released when they can demonstrate to the Parole Board that they are a minimal risk to society, which is the present test, but in a prison cell they will find it almost impossible to satisfy that test. We need long, determinate sentences for serious criminals. That is the way the criminal justice system works,” Clarke told MPs. He said Labour’s 10-year IPP experiment had “undoubtedly failed” and one in 10 prisoners would soon be serving indefinite sentences unless a better alternative was found. David Cameron has suggested that a new “two strikes and you’re out” mandatory sentence for repeat serious sexual or violent offenders should be introduced instead. Hale’s comments came as figures provided by Julie Bishop, director of the Law Centres Federation, showed that at least 18 of the 52 centres in England and Wales would have to shut, because three-quarters of their income comes from legal aid that will no longer be available. Last year, law centres helped 120,000 people, Bishop said. Soon, because of the government’s determination to slice £350m out of its annual £2.1bn legal aid budget, the number who can be helped will fall by two-thirds to 40,000. Hale, who is the patron of Hammersmith and Fulham’s law centre, noted in her speech that legal aid was now being removed from “most civil and legal cases”. But providing legal advice at an early stage, she said, could often save greater costs for government agencies at a later stage when problems spiralled out of control. Prisons and probation UK criminal justice Kenneth Clarke Alan Travis Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk
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Thousands of Greeks brave police teargas to march against austerity measures, as protesters vow to continue the ‘big battle’ There is a ritual to Greek rallies. They start out quiet, then get rowdy, and then violent. this ritual jumped gear when violence broke out before the rowdy stage as thousands marched against austerity in Athens during a general strike triggered by tomorrow’s parliamentary vote on some of the toughest economic measures in modern Greek history. Witnesses said it began on Filellinon street just after midday. “Without any provocation riot police began firing off rounds of teargas,” said Fotis Fieris, a student holding a handkerchief to his mouth. “They fired and fired until we had to disperse.” So ferocious was the volley that soon pungent smoke had wafted down through the alleys of Plaka, the ancient district beneath the Acropolis, sending teary-eyed tourists running for cover. By then, the action had moved to Syntagma Square, site of the Greek parliament and seat of the people’s assembly, the body behind the growing movement of “indignant citizens” that has been the focus of protests for the past month. Within minutes the square resembled a battlezone, plumes of acrid smoke rising from burning rubbish bins as youths in bandanas, hoods and crash helmets lobbed marble slabs, rocks, broken bits of pavement, incendiary devices – anything they could find – at police. “Our aim,” said Pavlos Antonopoulos, a ponytailed teacher who had marched through Syntagma Square with thousands of trade unionists hours before, “is to demonstrate peacefully. “If there is violence it may well be deliberately provoked because we have heard that the aim of the government is to clear the square before Wednesday’s vote on the measures. “That’s when we will fight the big battle, when we will try to blockade the parliament, when we will do everything humanly possible to stop parliamentarians voting through the measures.” A new spirit is stalking Greece. Chaos, too, is also present amid power cuts (engineered by militant trade unionists protesting the partial privatization of the public power corporation), lawlessness and a growing sense that the debt-stricken country is not only headed for economic collapse but social disarray. Increasingly, Greeks fear there is no one to turn to, no leader or moral authority that they can trust. In the absence of hope, solidarity has grown. Eighteen months after the crisis erupted and barely a year after Athens received €110bn in emergency loans – in exchange for draconian budget cuts and reforms — Greeks are united as never before in the battle against further austerity. Many believe the latest €28bn package of spending cuts, privatisations and tax increases – deemed vital if Greece is to secure further aid from the EU and IMF – will wipe out society’s great connector, the middle class. “After a year of austerity where have we got?” asked Antonopoulos, who in 1990 staged a 25-day hunger strike in an attempt to improve teachers’ rights and standards in schools. “What have politicians done to earn this debt? We live in a country with no productive base, whose economy is in tatters, which after 30 years as a signed-up member of Europe has no infrastructure to speak of. That’s why we’re now demanding that the government goes, that the debt be written off and that Greece leaves the EU. Otherwise generations will be forced to live under a regime of austerity on the poverty line.” At 61, the wiry teacher embodies the people power now surging through Syntagma Square. Unsettlingly for the government, his views appear to be echoed by an ever greater number of Greeks. Olli Rehn, the EU’s economic affairs chief, made it clear that if the radical measures were not ratified by Athens’s 300-member parliament, there was “no plan B”. After a year of Greece’s failing to deliver on promised reforms, mandarins in Brussels are too mistrustful. Greece would not receive the next infusion of cash – €12bn crucial to paying wages and pensions in the coming month – and would automatically default on its €355bn (about £320bn) debt pile, he said. “The only way to avoid immediate default is for parliament to endorse the revised economic programme … they must be approved if the next tranche of financial assistance is to be released.” There is a growing consensus that the measures will be passed. Despite the chorus of criticism from austerity-weary MPs in the ruling socialist party, sources close to prime minister George Papandreou said they were confident that when the vote is held, dissidents would rally and “do the right thing.” “They know that the country’s future hangs on it and they know that if Greece goes under it will throw Europe into unprecedented financial turmoil,” one aide said. But even if the measures are passed, the battle will be only partly won. The real fight begins when the government actually starts streamlining the country’s profligate public sector and implementing the sort of reforms now viewed as urgent if Greece is to catch up with the rest of the western world. “The measures will pass but the government’s victory will be pyrrhic,” said Nikos Dimou, author of the bestselling The Misfortune to be Greek. “The challenges ahead are enormous.” Greece European debt crisis European banks Europe Economics Global economy Helena Smith guardian.co.uk
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Taliban militants with at least one suicide bomb attack popular Kabul hotel, with Afghan police reportedly locked in gun battles A famous hotel in Kabul is under attack from a commando squad of Taliban militants armed with small arms, at least one suicide bomb and rocket propelled grenades. The assault on the old Intercontinental, which is popular with Afghan politicians and foreign visitors, began late on Tuesday night when it is thought at least two receptions were taking place. Although details about the ongoing assault are still unclear, a Taliban spokesman, contacted on the phone by journalists, was quick to claim credit for the assault. A Kabul police chief, Mohammad Zahir, said the assault involved “several gunmen shooting”, and that a “number” of police had been wounded. According to a tweet by Bette Dam , a Dutch journalist at the scene, the attackers also appeared to be armed with rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). Dam reported seeing at least four RPGs being launched from the hotel into the nearby house belonging to Mohammad Qasim Fahim, one of Afghanistan’s vice-presidents. Reuters reported that a wedding party was in progress at the 1960s hotel, which is no longer part of the Intercontinental chain, at the time of the assault. The attack on such a well-defended hotel, which is impossible to approach without going through at least two security checkpoints, is embarrassing for the Afghan government as it prepares to take responsibility for security in Kabul province, as part of much-vaunted “transition” strategy. Afghan authorities have already been nominally in charge of the capital city for some time. Attacks in Kabul have been relatively rare, although violence has increased since the 2 May killing of Osama bin Laden in a US raid in Pakistan, and since the start of the Taliban’s annual spring offensive. On 18 June, insurgents wearing Afghan army uniforms stormed a police station near the presidential palace and opened fire on officers, killing nine. Afghanistan Jon Boone guardian.co.uk
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