Unions at Saab demand payment by Monday or they will start legal action that could end in bankruptcy for cash-strapped Swedish carmaker Saab said on Thursday it could not pay wages to employees because it had not yet obtained the necessary short-term funding to do so. Unions said the troubled carmaker had until Monday to pay their wages or they would start a legal process that could end in bankruptcy for the company, owned by Netherlands-based Swedish Automobile. IF Metall and Unionen said they would send a formal demand for payment if their members did not receive their wages. “Then the company has seven days to react,” said IF Metall representative Veli-Pekka Saikkala. “After that there are two alternatives. Either we see that the situation can be solved, or we demand that Saab is put into bankruptcy.” The cash-strapped carmaker is scrambling for funds to restart production after it was halted for most of April, May and June because it could not pay suppliers. Swedish Automobile and Saab are in talks with various parties to obtain short-term funding, including options such as a sale and leaseback of Saab’s real estate. “There can, however, be no assurance these discussions will be successful or that the necessary funding will be obtained,” Saab said. Swedish Automobile this month agreed a rescue package for Saab from two Chinese car companies, Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co and Pangda, that would solve longer-term financing problems if approved by authorities in China and Europe. Saab spokeswoman Gunilla Gustavs said it was not possible to say when salaries would be paid: “That depends on when and if we can secure short-term funding, for example through the real estate deal. “This is really bad news and we are working intensely to do something about it. There are no guarantees but we are not giving up.” Saab said the Trollhattan factory in southern Sweden would remain idle until at least the end of next week, while the company holds talks with suppliers. The Swedish government declined to comment. Saab Automotive industry Sweden guardian.co.uk
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Harry Potter author unveils free, collaborative website for which she has written extensive background material JK Rowling has written extensive new material about the world of Harry Potter for her new venture, Pottermore , she revealed at a press conference launching the collaborative website. From Professor McGonagall’s love for a Muggle as a young woman, to how the Dursleys met; from new information about Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff houses, to details about wand wood, the fresh Potter background from the author already stretches to 18,000 words, with more to come. The material will be used on the new, free Pottermore website, a collaborative project for fans set in the Harry Potter universe. “I wanted to give something back to the fans that have followed Harry so devotedly over the years, and to bring the stories to a new generation,” Rowling revealed. “I hope fans and those new to Harry will have as much fun helping to shape Pottermore as I have. Just as I have contributed to the website, everyone else will be able to join in by submitting their own comments, drawings and other content in a safe and friendly environment. Pottermore has been designed as a place to share the stories with your friends as you journey through the site.” For the moment, Pottermore will be restricted to the world of the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, but all the books will be added in due course. The site is intended to bring the storyline to life for users, with new illustrations and interactive “moments” which can be navigated through. Users start out by choosing a magical username, and as they move through the chapters of the book they will be sorted into houses, choose wands and experience life at Hogwarts, just like Harry. Points can be won for houses by casting spells and mixing potions. The website will open to a lucky million users early on 31 July – Harry’s birthday – with its full launch to all users in October. It will also sell the long-awaited ebook versions of the Harry Potter books directly to users from October as well as digital audiobooks. “This is free,” added Rowling, who has sold more than 450m copies of the Potter books worldwide. “You don’t have to pay to get extra materials, you don’t have to buy a single thing. That was really important to me. This was about the ‘give-back’.” Although Rowling said it was “impossible to overstate what Harry Potter means to me”, Pottermore will be the only way fans will be able to get fresh material from Rowling about Harry’s world. “I’m pretty sure I’m done on the novel front,” she said. JK Rowling Harry Potter Children and teenagers Games Alison Flood guardian.co.uk
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Exams for 11-year-olds in England will be changed to prevent teachers drilling pupils to pass and to create greater fairness National tests for 11-year-olds in England will be changed to stop teachers drilling pupils, a government review is expected to say. Lord Bew, a crossbench peer and politics professor, was asked to review the tests – known as Sats – after a quarter of primary schools boycotted them last year. He will recommend the reading test is changed “over time”, and that schools are judged over three years’ of results rather than one and given a rolling average in league tables. He will also say the creative writing element of the English test should be assessed by class teachers rather than external markers. Some parts of the tests will not change, however. The maths, reading, spelling, vocabulary and punctuation tests will continue to be externally assessed, while the speaking and listening elements will still be marked internally. A small proportion of pupils – 5% – will sit a science test to monitor standards. Two teaching unions have called for the tests to be scrapped. Sats results go towards school league tables and unions say this forces teachers to spend the whole final year of primary school cramming pupils for the tests rather than providing a rounded education. Bew told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme the changes would lead to “greater fairness” and better accountability. “Hundreds of thousands of children take these exams,” he said. “If things go wrong, the evidence is that this is very, very hard to repair later on.” The tests were abolished in Wales and Northern Ireland and never taken in Scotland. Sats Primary school league tables School tables Primary schools Teaching Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk
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“It’s a piece of art about art.” Wagner-obsessive Stephen Fry discusses Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The Guardian will be streaming the final performance live from Glyndebourne on Sunday 26 June from 2.45pm
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Venezuela’s president had surgery on pelvic cyst in Cuba but rumours have suggested he may actually have cancer President Hugo Chávez is recuperating well from surgery in Cuba and is expected to return to Venezuela within 12 days, one of his brothers said on Wednesday. Adán Chávez told state television that it was not clear exactly when his younger brother would return, but the leader expects to depart for Venezuela within 10 to 12 days. “The president is recovering in a satisfactory manner,” he said. “The president is a strong man.” Chávez underwent surgery in Cuba for a pelvic abscess on 10 June. The condition is an accumulation of pus that can have various causes, including infection or surgical complications. Neither Chávez nor doctors treating him have disclosed what caused the abscess, and his prolonged absence has prompted speculation and criticism at home. Opponents have suggested that the president’s condition may be far more serious than acknowledged, and rumours have circulated that Chávez is suffering from cancer. In his only public utterances – a phone call with a TV network two days after the surgery – Chávez actually fuelled rather than dampened speculation by noting there were no “malignant” signs found. Political foes say the lack of details reflects the nature of Chávez’s government. “Under authoritarian governments, there are photos. In democracy, there is information,” opposition legislator Americo de Grazia told parliament this week. The Venezuelan vice-president, Elías Jaua, said Chávez was attending to his day-to-day government duties while recuperating. “He’s signing documents for social security retirees and resources for the education ministry, reading reports,” Jaua told Union Radio. “The president is following all current events in the country.” Chávez’s absence and his relative silence has concerned some of his supporters . The loquacious leader has communicated by telephone with programme hosts on state television several times since the surgery, but Venezuelans are accustomed to the president’s near daily speeches and television appearances that can last several hours. Hugo Chávez Venezuela guardian.co.uk
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Troop drawdown welcomed by prime minister, who says UK will keep its own force levels in Afghanistan ‘under constant review’ David Cameron has welcomed Barack Obama’s announcement that the US will withdraw about a third of its forces from Afghanistan next year as the US president declared the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban a success. In a statement issued on Thursday, the prime minister said the UK would keep its own force levels in Afghanistan “under constant review”. “I have already said there will be no UK troops in combat roles in Afghanistan by 2015 and, where conditions on the ground allow, it is right that we bring troops home sooner,” said Cameron. Obama’s statement was also welcomed by General Sir David Richards, the chief of the defence staff, but it received a more cautious assessment from general Sir Richard Dannatt, a former army chief, who described the move as “bold but risky”. Obama said 33,000 US troops would be withdrawn by the summer of 2012 or by September at the latest. The first 5,000 would return next month and another 5,000 by the end of the year. The president said that when he ordered the 33,000 extra troops to Afghanistan in 2009 they had a clear mission: to refocus on al-Qaida; reverse the Taliban’s momentum; and train Afghan security forces to defend their own country. “Tonight, I can tell you that we are fulfilling that commitment,” he said, adding: “We are meeting our goals.” Obama claimed al-Qaida was under more pressure than at any time since the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. Half of its leadership has been killed, along with its leader, Osama bin Laden. “This was a victory for all who have served since 9/11,” he said. He addressed criticism that the US should not be spending billions on wars overseas while the country is struggling economically at home and promised to shift from foreign to domestic issues. “America, it is time to focus on nation building here at home,” he said. But US and other Nato military chiefs fear that the president is taking a gamble with the scale of early drawdown, ignoring the advice of US and Nato commanders who warned that withdrawal of anything more than a few thousand in the coming months could endanger substantial gains made over the winter in the battle against the Taliban. US and Nato commanders argued that they could handle the withdrawal of about 5,000, mainly support staff. But 10,000 this year would create logistical problems and interfere with the summer “fighting season”, they warned. Cameron was among the leaders the US president informed by phone call of his decision. The prime minister said the right conditions were now in place to transfer security to the Afghans from next month. “The surge by the US and international partners, supported by an increase in the number of Afghan army and police, has reversed the momentum of the insurgency and created the right conditions for security responsibility to begin to transfer to the Afghans from July,” said Cameron. He added: “We remain side by side with Afghanistan and our international partners to achieve a military and political solution in Afghanistan that will allow the Afghan people to take full responsibility for their own sovereignty and national security.” Dannatt said he would characterise what Obama was doing as “bold but risky”. He said Obama deserved credit for backing a surge of troops, which Dannatt said had had a “beneficial effect” and left many areas more secure than they were. If troops are reduced, both by the US and the UK, it was important to ensure the overall effort is maintained, he added. “I think you have got to give him credit,” said Dannatt. “He took the arguments here 18 months ago and agreed to the surge … and they have had a real effect undoubtedly. “He wants to reduce the troops now, probably largely for domestic reasons and that is how it is and other parts of the mission have got to step up to the plate and build a more stable life for the Afghan people. “At the end of the day Afghanistan is where the Afghans live it is their country and the political solution has got to be Afghan-delivered and Afghan-led. We have given them the change it is up to them to take it.” William Hague, the foreign secretary, said the pace of withdrawal of UK troops would depend on the security situation in the country. “Between now and 2015 the level of British forces, the pace of any reductions, depends on the progress we make, the conditions on the ground, the consultations with our allies.” The foreign secretary explained that Afghan forces would be expected to take over security operations by 2014, allowing British forces to leave the year after. Speaking from Kabul, Hague insisted all UK military chiefs were aware of the “unequivocal” 2015 deadline. “We have said that by 2015 British forces will not be engaged in combat in Afghanistan or in anything like the numbers that they are now. What happens between now and 2015 depends on conditions on the ground and our continuing assessment of those,” he told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme. “One of the conditions is that by 2015 we reach that point … I can tell you there are no ifs, no buts about that.” Hague also confirmed that talks were under way with Taliban elements, and Britain was “active” in that process. “Contacts do take place with the Taliban,” he said. “President [Hamid] Karzai has spoken about this in the last week, and so has [US defence] secretary [Robert] Gates.” But Jim Murphy, the shadow defence secretary, warned that a withdrawal of troops could leave a political “vacuum” in Afghanistan. “The worry that we all have, and there’s a huge amount of work that is going into two areas, let me mention those quickly,” he told Sky News. “One, politics. As the military effort diminishes, the danger of a vacuum is created and the Taliban fills that and al-Qaida starts to return to Afghanistan. We have to have stability in the Afghan government. “Secondly, to support that, we need Afghan forces that are strong enough. We’ve got a long way to go. The UK is doing a lot but there is a long way to go on the Afghan army and an enormous way to go on the police.” Richards, the chief of defence staff, welcomed Obama’s announcement. “The prime minister has said we will not have combat forces in Afghanistan by the end of 2014. It is right at this time to recognise the tremendous efforts the American military has made and continues to make in Afghanistan, both in the performance of its forces and the leadership it provides.” The insurgency across the country, is under “real and sustained pressure”, he said in a statement. “Their momentum has been halted and in some areas reversed. This summer will see the continuation of this process with Afghan forces beginning to take the lead for security in a number of areas including Lashkar Gah, the headquarters for British forces. “The Afghan army and police are increasingly able to plan, direct and execute operations to provide security for their own people. But our collective military efforts need to continue until Afghan security forces are able to assume responsibility for security across Afghanistan by the end of 2014.” Afghanistan Foreign policy United States Taliban Defence policy Military David Cameron Barack Obama William Hague Hélène Mulholland Ewen MacAskill Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Scotland Yard detectives arrest 39-year-old woman, who is understood not to be a journalist Detectives investigating phone hacking by the News of the World have arrested a woman in west Yorkshire, Scotland Yard has said. The 39-year-old woman was arrested at 6.55am at her home on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications contrary to section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977. Scotland Yard, which has 45 officers investigating phone hacking as part of Operation Weeting, did not release details of the woman’s identity. However, it is understood the woman arrested is not a journalist. She was taken to a police station in west Yorkshire for questioning this morning. Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said on Wednesday the Operation Weeting team remained at 45 strong and was continuing its wide-ranging inquiry into phone hacking as well as providing information for the civil court claims. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: “The woman was arrested from a residential address in West Yorkshire. “Operation Weeting is conducting a new investigation into phone hacking. It would be inappropriate to discuss any further details regarding this case at this time.” The woman is the fourth person arrested by officers on the inquiry. In April a senior reporter at the News of the World, James Weatherup, was arrested and questioned. Weatherup, who has also worked as a news editor with the Sunday tabloid, was released after questioning. The paper’s chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, and assistant editor (news) Ian Edmondson, were also held in April and released on police bail to return in September. Scotland Yard was heavily criticised over its handling of the original phone-hacking inquiry, which led to the conviction of News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in January 2007. The then News of the World editor, Andy Coulson, resigned following Goodman and Mulcaire’s convictions. Coulson resigned again as prime minister David Cameron’s director of communications in January this year, admitting that the ongoing row about the affair was making his job impossible. He had resigned as News of the World editor following the conviction of Goodman and Mulcaire in January 2007. Days later the Met launched Operation Weeting, after receiving “significant new information” from News of the World owner News International. •
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Driver Zhang Jinsong among several associates who disappeared with freed Chinese artist Police are to release Ai Weiwei’s cousin and driver, who went missing days after the world famous artist, according to relatives. Ai was released on bail on Wednesday night after 81 days of detention “because of his good attitude in confessing his crimes” and a chronic illness, Xinhua news agency reported. The 54-year-old told the Guardian he was happy to be back with his family , but was unable to comment further. He appeared tired and considerably thinner than before his disappearance. Friends and supporters have remained concerned for the fate of several associates who disappeared shortly after Ai was stopped by officials at Beijing airport on 3 April. Gao Ying, Ai’s mother, said she had been told her nephew Zhang Jinsong would be released on bail on Thursday afternoon. She added that she would collect him shortly. “Of course I am very happy, since he got into the case because of my son. After two months, finally he is out,” Gao added. The 43-year-old, known to friends as Xiao Pang, travelled and worked closely with Ai . The Xinhua report on Ai’s release said: “The decision comes also in consideration of the fact that Ai has repeatedly said he is willing to pay the taxes he evaded, police said. The Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd, a company Ai controlled, was found to have “evaded a huge amount of taxes and intentionally destroyed accounting documents”, police said. Chinese officials have said that the case was nothing to do with human rights. But Ai’s family believe the accusations were retaliation for his social and political activism and that his friends and colleagues – who, apart from Wen Tao, showed little interest in campaigning – were drawn in because of their connections to Ai. Shi Jing, Wen’s girlfriend, said his family were still none the wiser about where the 38-year-old was or what would happen to him. Hu Mingfen, 55, the accountant for Fake Design – the company which handled Ai’s affairs – remains missing. So does Liu Zhenggang, 49, a designer who worked at the studio. Ai did not respond to a request for comment. On Wednesday night he told the Guardian that he was fine and “very happy” to be home, but added that he could not say much because he was on bail. Professor Jerome Cohen, a leading expert on Chinese criminal law, said in a blog that security authorities sometimes released suspects pending further investigation “as a face-saving device to end controversial cases that are unwise or unnecessary for them to prosecute “. “Often in such cases a compromise has been reached in negotiation with the suspect, as apparently it has been here…. As part of the agreement and as a consequence of long incommunicado detention, the released suspect is usually subdued in any public remarks made upon release,” he said. He added: “This outcome makes clear that great international public pressure plus significant domestic and personal guanxi [connections] can be a potent combination even in the case of someone who went further than anyone before him in openly thumbing his nose (and other body parts) at the Communist regime. Undoubtedly, Ai’s star talent, his family history and global support from the artistic community helped a lot.” China Ai Weiwei Human rights Protest Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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Boston crimelord and FBI informant was inspiration for Jack Nicholson character Frank Costello in Scorcese’s The Departed James ‘Whitey’ Bulger, a notorious Boston gangster on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list for his alleged role in 19 murders, has been captured near Los Angeles after living on the run for 16 years. Bulger, 81, was the leader of the Winter Hill Gang and a top-level FBI informant when he fled in January 1995 after being tipped off by a former Boston FBI agent that he was about to be indicted. He was arrested by the FBI on Wednesday evening at an apartment complex in Santa Monica after a period of surveillance, according to a local policeman. Bulger will appear at a federal court in LA facing a series of federal charges including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, narcotics distribution, extortion and money laundering. The FBI has endured a public perception that it had not tried very hard to find Bulger, who became a huge source of embarrassment for the agency after the extent of his crimes and the FBI’s role in overlooking them became public. Prosecutors said he went on the run after being warned by John Connolly Jr, an FBI agent who had made Bulger an FBI informant 20 years earlier. Connolly was convicted of racketeering in May 2002 for protecting Bulger and his cohort, Stephen ‘The Rifleman’ Flemmi, also an FBI informant. Bulger, who was the inspiration for Jack Nicholson’s character Frank Costello in Martin Scorcese’s 2006 crime thriller The Departed, provided the Boston FBI with information on his gang’s main rival, the New England Mob, in an era when bringing down the Mafia was one of the FBI’s top priorities. But the Boston FBI office was sharply criticised when the extent of Bulger’s alleged crimes and his cosy relationship with the FBI became public in the late 1990s. During his years on the run, the FBI received reported sightings of Bulger and his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig, from all over the US and parts of Europe. In many of those sightings, investigators could not confirm whether it was actually Bulger who was spotted or simply a lookalike. FBI Massachusetts United States Mark Smith guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Chris Matthews: ‘I Hate That So-called Evenhanded So-called Objective Journalism’
June 22, 2011 No Comment
Chris Matthews on Wednesday made it clear that like Al Gore, he believes the media should only be telling one side of the story when it comes to manmade global warming. Such came out in the middle of a discussion about Gore's new article in Rolling Stone magazine when the “Hardball” host told his guests, “I hate that so-called evenhanded so-called objective journalism” (video follows with transcript and commentary): CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Where’s the problem with climate change? Isn’t it that half the country’s being sold nonsense? ERIC BATES, EXECUTIVE EDITOR ROLLING STONE: That’s right, and that’s exactly what this essay says. It’s interesting, the essay is really about the press and the media and how they’ve fallen down on the job in terms of being the referee in the fight between science and reason. Gore really points out that the media hasn’t done its job, and has kind of taken a “He said, she said” approach to climate change when in fact there are, there’s truth and there’s falsity in this, and the two are being conflated. MATTHEWS: I’m with you on that, Eric. I hate that so-called evenhanded so-called objective journalism. You know, you know, you can’t say something isn’t true if it’s true in the interest of evenhandedness. Readers are reminded that in November 2007, Gore made the same argument to Meredith Vieira on NBC's “Today” show: AL GORE: But Meredith, part of the challenge the news media has had in covering this story is the old habit of taking the “on the one hand, on the other hand” approach. There are still people who believe that the earth is flat. But when you're reporting on a story like the one you're covering today, where you have people all around the world, you don't take, you don't search out, for someone who still believes the earth is flat and give them equal time. Now, almost four years later, after the ClimateGate revelations as well as numerous findings of serious errors in the last Assessment Report from the International Panel on Climate Change, Matthews wants all his colleagues in the media to cease all reporting that disagrees with his ignorant view of this subject. There are now over 31,000 American scientists – including over 9,000 Ph.Ds – that have signed the Oregon Global Warming Petition stating, “There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate.” Contrary to what shills like Matthews and Bates contend, there are far more scientists around the world that don't believe manmade carbon dioxide is responsible for the warming the globe has experienced since 1850 than actually do. Matthews and Bates likely couldn't name off the top of their heads a handful of climatologists or meteorologists that completely support this theory. Yet, like Gore, they want to silence everyone that doesn't agree with them. As NewsBusters reported earlier, Matthews even thinks folks like Rush Limbaugh who don't see it his way are evil. This coming from a so-called evenhanded so-called objective journalist.
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