John Hemming MP unmasked Giggs as the married star whose injunction over an alleged affair caused a storm on Twitter Ryan Giggs has been named as the footballer at the centre of a media gagging order after a Liberal Democrat MP used parliamentary privilege to flout an injunction. John Hemming, the MP for Birmingham Yardley, was rebuked by Commons speaker John Bercow after using a question to attorney general Dominic Grieve to name the Manchester United midfielder. Hemming made the intervention after Grieve announced that David Cameron had asked for a joint committee of peers and MPs to investigate the use of gagging orders. This came amid warnings from one influential Conservative MP that the actions of thousands of people posting details on Twitter of individuals involved in superinjunctions risked making the law “look an ass”. To the condemnation of some of his colleagues, Hemming, who has been campaigning on the issue, exercised parliamentary privilege to identify the star at the centre of the injunction just minutes after the high court refused to lift a ban on naming the sportsman, who is said to have had a relationship with Imogen Thomas, the former Big Brother contestant. “With about 75,000 people having named Ryan Giggs on Twitter, it’s obviously impractical to imprison them all,” Hemming said. He also went on to declare that Giles Coren, the Times columnist, was the journalist supposedly threatened with contempt of court proceedings in relation to another privacy injunction – although Grieve had previously told MPs that he was not planning legal proceedings against a journalist in relation to this case. Bercow told Hemming over his comments: “Let me just say to the honourable gentleman, I know he’s already done it, but occasions such as this are occasions for raising the issues of principle involved, not seeking to flout for whatever purpose. If the honourable gentleman wants to finish his question in an orderly way, he can do so.” Hemming responded: “The question is what the government’s view is on an enforceability of a law that clearly doesn’t have public consent.” Grieve, who would be responsible for any prosecution for contempt, told MPs that it was their duty “as parliamentarians” to uphold the rule of law. The attorney general announced the prime minister’s decision to have a joint committee to examine the issues raised by the events of the past few months and especially the past weekend relating to the superinjunction. Grieve told MPs that the committee would examine whether the current system was working following Cameron’s letter to John Whittingdale, chairman of the Commons culture committee, recommending the setting up of a new body. Setting out Cameron’s recommendation of a new committee, Grieve said: “Such a committee would be able to use representation of both houses and the considerable expertise that select committees have to examine whether the current arrangements are working and to consider whether we might make any changes that might make things work better.” Grieve announced the move in response to an urgent question in the Commons from Whittingdale on the use of injunctions. Earlier, the high court refused to allow journalists to name Giggs as the married footballer at the centre of the alleged affair with Thomas. Lawyers for the Sun asked for the controversial privacy ruling to be lifted after a Scottish newspaper identified the star at the weekend and the prime minister said he knew his identity “like everybody else”. David Cameron signalled on Monday morning that the government would look at the matter of injunctions as he suggested that the UK’s current law on privacy is “unsustainable”. Cameron said the situation whereby newspapers “can’t print something that everyone else is clearly talking about” was unfair. The prime minister said the government had “to take some time out” to look at the matter, but said there was no “simple answer”. He suggested one option could be to beef up the press watchdog. “It’s not fair on the newspapers if all the social media can report this and the newspapers can’t, and so the law and the practice has got to catch up with how people consume media today,” he said. Later, Grieve told MPs that a balance needed to be struck. He said: “The government believes freedom of speech is a cornerstone of our democracy and it is of the greatest importance that people should be able to discuss and debate issues as freely and openly as possible. This includes those occasions when freedom of speech is exercised provocatively, as it’s supposed to be in a free country. “Plainly, however, there are also occasions when an individual is entitled to have their privacy protected. There is a balance to be struck and this is reflected in our existing legal framework.” There were “widely differing views” on what that balance should be, he acknowledged. Grieve welcomed the report produced last week by a panel of senior judges on the operation of injunctions and super-injunctions. “It reaffirms that open justice is a fundamental constitutional principle and that exceptions to this are only permissible to the extent that they are strictly necessary in the interests of justice,” he said. Grieve, speaking before Hemmings made his contribution, said: “Legal mechanisms exist to review individual decisions which may be mistaken. If we believe in the rule of law, it is our duty as parliamentarians to uphold those principles.” Whittingdale said the use of social media such as Twitter to breach injunctions was in danger of making “the law look an ass”. He told Grieve: “You would virtually have to be living in an igloo not to know the identity of at least one Premier League footballer who has obtained an injunction. The actions by thousands of people of posting details of this on Twitter are in danger of making the law look an ass.” Grieve warned: “The courts do have power to punish those who breach injunctions and those who decide flagrantly to do so should bear that in mind when they embark on that course of action.” Ryan Giggs Superinjunctions Twitter Internet Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk
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State failed to protect Northern Ireland solicitor before her murder by loyalists but did not collude in her killing, says report The state failed to protect the high-profile solicitor Rosemary Nelson before her murder by loyalists in Northern Ireland but did not collude in her killing, a major public inquiry has found. The hard-hitting report found no evidence of a direct role in the car bomb attack 12 years ago, but it said it could not rule out the possibility of involvement by a rogue element of the security forces. The inquiry, which cost £46.5m, concluded that Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers publicly abused and assaulted the solicitor, and it believed police intelligence on the 40-year-old mother of three had leaked out. Before her death on 15 March 1999, the lawyer who worked on a number of controversial cases including those of suspected republican terrorists, had alleged police intimidation. Those claims gained international attention and the report found police had made “abusive and threatening remarks” about the solicitor. The public inquiry found that the state “failed to take reasonable and proportionate steps to safeguard the life of Rosemary Nelson”. Northern Ireland Police guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …State failed to protect Northern Ireland solicitor before her murder by loyalists but did not collude in her killing, says report The state failed to protect the high-profile solicitor Rosemary Nelson before her murder by loyalists in Northern Ireland but did not collude in her killing, a major public inquiry has found. The hard-hitting report found no evidence of a direct role in the car bomb attack 12 years ago, but it said it could not rule out the possibility of involvement by a rogue element of the security forces. The inquiry, which cost £46.5m, concluded that Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers publicly abused and assaulted the solicitor, and it believed police intelligence on the 40-year-old mother of three had leaked out. Before her death on 15 March 1999, the lawyer who worked on a number of controversial cases including those of suspected republican terrorists, had alleged police intimidation. Those claims gained international attention and the report found police had made “abusive and threatening remarks” about the solicitor. The public inquiry found that the state “failed to take reasonable and proportionate steps to safeguard the life of Rosemary Nelson”. Northern Ireland Police guardian.co.uk
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The Indian prime minister arrives in Ethiopia to bolster economic and political links in a new ‘scramble for Africa’ India’s prime minister and dozens of business leaders began trade talks in Ethiopia on Monday as the Asian giant strives to catch up with China in what has been dubbed ” the new scramble for Africa “. Manmohan Singh received a red-carpet welcome as he led a delegation to the India-Africa summit in Addis Ababa, aiming to trumpet historical and cultural links with the continent in an effort to emerge from Beijing’s shadow. “The India-Africa partnership rests on three pillars of capacity building and skill transfer, trade and infrastructure development,” said Singh at the start of the six-day trip to Ethiopia and Tanzania. “Africa is emerging as a new growth pole of the world, while India is on a path of sustained and rapid economic development.” The trade meeting is to be attended by 15 African leaders. On its fringes was an India show comprising business seminars, cultural projects and a trade exhibition. Bilateral India-Africa trade has grown from about £620m in 2001 to £28.5bn in 2010. India’s commerce and industry minister, Anand Sharma, hopes it will reach £43bn by 2012. Some 250 Indian companies have invested, mainly in telecommunications and chemical and mining companies. But India remains about a decade behind its Asian rival. China says its two-way trade stands at £75bn, a 43.5% increase on the previous year, and up from just £620m in 1992 . It has built roads, bridges, railways and power stations in return for access to markets and resources. Brahma Chellaney, professor at the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research, told Reuters: “India is massively playing catch-up to China in Africa, and only in recent years is it trying to engage the continent in a serious way. But it is trying to build political and economic ties, and position itself as different to China, which has acquired the image of being a new imperial power.” The fierce competition between the pair for resources, minerals and food to fuel their turbo-charged economies has been likened by commentators to the so-called scramble for Africa among European countries in the 19th century. India is especially focused on energy. The country imports 70% of its oil and has turned to new suppliers such as Nigeria, Sudan and Angola to reduce its dependence on the Middle East. It also needs uranium for its ambitious civil nuclear programme. India is also looking to Africa to expand its diplomatic influence, especially its bid for a seat on an expanded UN security council. Defence ties with African states bordering the Indian Ocean could boost the fight against terrorism and piracy. India’s wooing of Africa includes aid, technology and education, such as a new centre in Uganda to train businesses about global markets, a diamond processing facility in Botswana, and assistance to cotton farmers in four of the continent’s poorest countries. Officials in New Delhi stress that India’s links with Africa are centuries old, bolstered by trade across the Indian Ocean and a million-strong Indian diaspora across Africa. Thousands of Africans have earned degrees from Indian universities and technological institutes on scholarships funded by the Indian government. Shyamal Gupta of the Confederation of Indian Industry told Associated Press: “India is interested in Africa not just because of its resources. It is also actively participating in the economic development of Africa.” But, like China before it, India has been criticised for turning a blind eye to human rights abuses and corruption. Its state-owned oil company has invested in Sudanese oil, and New Delhi avoided criticising the Khartoum government at the height of the Darfur crisis. Alex Vines, head of the Africa programme at the London-based thinktank Chatham House, which produced a report on India’s engagement in Africa, said: “India has enjoyed less western scrutiny over its Africa policy than China. India’s concern over Chinese expansion is acute and ever present. Its anxieties are not restricted to economic competition, but extend to security matters as well.” India Africa International trade China Ethiopia Tanzania David Smith guardian.co.uk
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DPP Keir Starmer will give result of review on whether or not to charge PC Simon Harwood over death of newspaper seller Britain’s most senior prosecutor will announce tomorrow whether the police officer who pushed Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests will be prosecuted for manslaughter. PC Simon Harwood struck the newspaper seller with a baton and pushed him to the ground near the Bank of England at the protest more than two years ago. Three weeks ago, an inquest jury concluded Tomlinson, a 47-year-old father of nine, had been unlawfully killed by a police officer while trying to walk home through the demonstration. The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, launched a review of his earlier decision, reached in July last year, against bringing criminal proceedings against Harwood, a member of the Metropolitan police’s territorial support group. In a statement, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that review was now complete. “The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, made it clear in July 2010 that the decision not to prosecute anyone in relation to the death of Mr Ian Tomlinson would be reviewed in light of the evidence heard at the inquest,” it said. “That review has now taken place and has been conducted carefully and thoroughly. In line with our statement on 3
Continue reading …DPP Keir Starmer will give result of review on whether or not to charge PC Simon Harwood over death of newspaper seller Britain’s most senior prosecutor will announce tomorrow whether the police officer who pushed Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests will be prosecuted for manslaughter. PC Simon Harwood struck the newspaper seller with a baton and pushed him to the ground near the Bank of England at the protest more than two years ago. Three weeks ago, an inquest jury concluded Tomlinson, a 47-year-old father of nine, had been unlawfully killed by a police officer while trying to walk home through the demonstration. The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, launched a review of his earlier decision, reached in July last year, against bringing criminal proceedings against Harwood, a member of the Metropolitan police’s territorial support group. In a statement, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that review was now complete. “The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, made it clear in July 2010 that the decision not to prosecute anyone in relation to the death of Mr Ian Tomlinson would be reviewed in light of the evidence heard at the inquest,” it said. “That review has now taken place and has been conducted carefully and thoroughly. In line with our statement on 3
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Taliban militants lose control of base 18 hours after deadly attack seen by many as a humiliating blow to Pakistan’s military Pakistani commandos have regained control of a naval airbase from Taliban militants who attacked then occupied the high-security facility for 18 hours . The attackers – who may have numbered no more than six – destroyed at least two US-supplied surveillance planes and killed 12 security officers in an assault that began late on Sunday night. At least four of the attackers were killed. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault in Karachi. The group said it was revenge for the 2 May American raid that killed Osama bin Laden and that insurgents were under orders to fight until the death. “They do not want to come out alive, they have gone there to embrace martyrdom,” said a spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan. Between four to six heavily armed insurgents stormed the Mehran naval base under cover of darkness, using ladders to get into the facility, said the interior minister, Rehman Malik. Once inside, they scattered around the compound, setting off explosions and hiding in the sprawling facility. During the day on Monday, the militants were holed up in an office building in a gunbattle with commandos, said a navy spokesman Irfan ul-Haq said. Navy helicopters flew over the base, and snipers were seen on a runway control tower. By the afternoon, Haq said the militants had been defeated. Commandos leaving the complex flashed victory signs to reporters. At least 11 navy personnel and one paramilitary ranger were killed, while a further 14 members of the security forces were wounded, said Haq. Malik said four militants were killed, but that two possibly escaped, adding that he saw some of the bodies of the attackers. He said the were dressed in black and looked “like the Star Wars characters”. Six Americans and 11 Chinese nationals were on the base at the time of the attack, but escaped unharmed, he said. The insurgents’ ability to penetrate the facility rattled a military establishment already embarrassed by the unilateral American raid on Bin Laden, and raised the possibility they had inside help. It will also likely lead to more questions over the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. In 2009, Islamist terrorists stormed army headquarters close to the capital , Islamabad, holding hostages for 22 hours. But unlike the attack in Karachi, the attackers failed to penetrate the complex further. This is the third major attack the group has claimed since the Bin Laden killing. The others were a car bombing that slightly injured American consulate workers in the north-west city of Peshawar and a twin-suicide attack that killed around 90 Pakistani paramilitary police recruits. The Pakistani prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, condemned the latest attack, saying such a “cowardly act of terror could not deter the commitment of the government and people of Pakistan to fight terrorism”. At least two US-made P-3C Orions maritime surveillance planes were destroyed, he said. The US navy puts the cost of the aircraft at $36m (£22m) each. A US embassy spokesman, Alberto Rodriguez, confirmed that six American contractors were on the Mehran base during the time of the attack, but said all were safe. He said the Americans, while working as contractors to help support the P-3C aircraft, did not report to the US embassy or consulate. Four of them were part of a Lockheed Martin contract engineering and technical support team, he added. It was not immediately clear what the Chinese were doing at the base, but Pakistan has purchased Chinese military equipment over the years. Also on Monday, Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking anonymously, said a pair of suspected US missiles hit a vehicle and killed four people near the Afghan border. The strike in the Machi Khel area in the tribal region of North Waziristan. Pakistan Taliban Afghanistan Global terrorism Osama bin Laden United States China guardian.co.uk
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Green party beats CDU for first time in state elections after coming second to Social Democrats in Bremen Angela Merkel has been dealt another blow after support for her Christian Democratic Union party plunged once again – this time at regional elections in Bremen. For the first time in state elections, the Green party won more votes than the CDU, capturing almost 23% of the vote on Sunday, according to an exit poll from German state television ARD. The Green surge, if confirmed by final results, means the party will continue to rule in coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD), who have been in charge of the north German city for 66 years. While the Greens’ victory in the smallest of Germany’s 16 states will not directly affect the chancellor’s hold on the federal government, it is another symbolic black eye for Merkel and her party. In Baden-Württemberg’s state election in March, the Christian Democrats were voted out of power for the first time in five decades . The anti-nuclear Greens became the strongest party there amid concerns over Germany’s atomic future following the Fukushima plant accident in Japan. The win will mean that Germany will have its first Green governor. The success in Bremen has led some Greens to admit they are now on the hunt for a candidate for chancellor to go head-to-head with Merkel at national elections in 2013 should their trajectory continue upwards. Some are even tipping the popular former foreign minister Joschka Fischer for a comeback. According to German magazine Focus, a third of Germans would still vote for Fischer. Merkel’s junior partner in the federal government, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), look to have been kicked out of Bremen’s bürgerschaft , the state legislature, after failing to meet the minimum 5% threshold. Provisional results suggest the FDP won 2.5% of the vote – a headache for Merkel as well as its new national leader, Philipp Rösler. The Left party won 6.4% of the Bremen vote, down from just over 8% in 2007, the poll said. The Greens’ rise was also echoed in a new national poll that saw their support at 23%, closely trailing the SDP’s 26%. The poll commissioned by ARD television and released on Sunday showed the CDU at 33%, and the FDP at 4%. Merkel’s conservatives won Germany’s last general election in 2009 with 33.8% of the vote and joined forces with the FDP, which had then secured a 14.6% share. About 1,000 people were surveyed for the poll that had a margin of error of up to 3.1%. Sunday’s vote in Bremen marked the first time in German history that people between 16 and 18 were allowed to vote for their state legislature. Despite that effort to boost the vote, ARD estimated a turnout of 54%, down from 57% four years earlier. Germany Angela Merkel Europe Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk
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Penny Johnson says surgeon played God with her life after experimental facelift left her with nerve damage A woman who sued a plastic surgeon who “played God” with her life has been awarded more than £6m in damages. Penny Johnson, 49, claimed Le Roux Fourie carried out experimental surgery during a facelift in August 2003 that caused nerve damage to the right side of her face and led to her financial and IT consultancy business going into administration. At a trial in February at the high court in London she asked Justice Owen to award her a proportion of the £54m she says was her potential loss, as a 50% shareholder, when her company, Bishop Cavanagh, failed in 2009. During the hearing, Johnson, of Godstone, Surrey, said: “My face is constantly contracting, I don’t sleep and I have a permanent buzzing around my eye, which can be so intense that I can’t think about anything.” The judge gave his ruling in the case on Monday and awarded her £6,190,884.92. Alain Choo Choy QC, defending, accepted liability but put the potential business loss at £9m. He did not accept the surgery had been experimental. The claim that Bishop Cavanagh lost out on a series of lucrative contracts was unrealistic and deluded, he said. He accepted that her injuries restricted her ability to work but the business had failed for unrelated commercial and economic reasons. The court was told that during her absence the company was run by her husband, Peter, with whom she now owns another business, BC Direct. The bulk of the award relates to lost earnings, both past and future. In his ruling, the judge said Johnson had been a confident, happy and outstandingly successful woman with a full and rewarding family and social life. But the negligent surgery had serious consequences – both physical and psychological – and resulted in a prolonged adjustment disorder with features of anxiety and depression. As he observed during the trial, the facial twitching she suffered was “virtually constant”. He said it was clear her injuries from the facelift and the replacement of breast implants, which was carried out at the same time, had harmed her relationship with her husband. “Their marriage has survived, but the claimant said in evidence that she is no longer a wife to her husband. He says that she is now a completely different person and that their marriage is not what it used to be.” He awarded £80,000 for the facial disfigurement, the asymmetry and pain caused by the breast surgery and the psychological consequences of the injuries. Assessing Johnson’s claim for loss of earnings, the judge said her projections were the product of her intense disappointment at the “devastating” consequences to the business. “She has understandably become preoccupied by what might have been, which has affected her judgment as to what could and would in reality have been achieved,” he added. As to her residual earning capacity, the judge said Johnson functioned intellectually at a high level and continued to have the potential to deploy her outstanding abilities at work. But account had to be taken of the uncertain prognosis for her psychiatric symptoms. He said: “Unless she makes a full recovery … recovers some vestige of her former self-confidence, the prospect of engagement in business activities that involve face-to-face contact with others is limited.” Plastic surgery Health & wellbeing Health guardian.co.uk
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Cartagena accord will allow return of exiled president and re-entry of Honduras to Organisation of American States The ousted Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya has signed an accord with his successor that will allow him return to his homeland and the country’s re-entry into the Organisation of American States. Zelaya and President Porfirio Lobo met in Cartagena, Colombia, on Sunday to sign the agreement that was worked out by presidents Juan Manuel Santos, of Colombia, and Hugo Chávez, of Venezuela. The goal is to end the political crisis caused by the June 2009 coup that sent Zelaya into exile and caused the OAS to suspend Honduras as a member. The agreement “strengthens the American system … and there is peace and freedom in a brotherly country like Honduras”, Santos said. Earlier he said via Twitter that the agreement “implies the return of Zelaya to Honduras and its return to the OAS”. Chávez promised to make sure the accord’s terms were respected. “We will be monitoring very closely that the agreement is fulfilled because we know there will be forces inside and outside Honduras who are going to try to boycott the accord,” he said from Caracas, Venezuela. The deal calls for an end to the persecution of Zelaya, and his supporters, and his safe return to Honduras; reiterates that Honduras’s constitution guarantees the right to seek a national plebiscite on reforming fundamental laws; requires respect for human rights and the investigation of possible violations; and calls for a guarantee that Zelaya supporters can participate in Honduras’s political life and in 2014 elections as a political party. “I am pleased to come to sign a reconciliation agreement for the democracy of the Honduran people … Do not be afraid of democracy,” said Zelaya, who was ousted after he ignored a court order to cancel a referendum asking if Honduras should change its constitution. His opponents accused him of wanting to get around a provision limiting presidents to a single term; a charge he denied. Lobo called the signing “a very important day for Honduras”, saying the accord was “for the millions of Hondurans who choose to live in peace and harmony”. He urged his countrymen to recognise that Zelaya’s return would be good for the country. “Return to Honduras without any fear because you will be treated with the respect due a former president,” Lobo told Zelaya. Santos attended the signing of the “Cartagena accord” and Chávez, who is recovering from a knee injury, was represented by the Venezuelan foreign minister, Nicolás Maduro. Zelaya attended even though a spokesman for Lobo had said the former leader would not be in Cartagena, but rather sign the agreement later at a forum in Managua, Nicaragua, with the presidents of Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. A Honduran government statement said that with the accord, Lobo had fulfilled the electoral mandate given to him to “achieve national reconciliation and unity”. Zelaya, who has been living in exile in the Dominican Republic, said last week that he plans to return to Honduras on 28 May. After Zelaya was overthrown by the military, international sanctions and months of negotiations led by the US and the OAS failed to persuade an interim government to restore him to power. Honduras went ahead with November 2009 elections that had been scheduled before the coup and Lobo was voted into office . The US and other countries restored ties shortly after Lobo took power in January 2010. But Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua and Ecuador opposed restoring Honduras to the OAS unless Zelaya could return from exile without facing the threat of prison. Honduran courts recently dropped corruption charges and arrest warrants pending against Zelaya, paving the way for the country’s restoration as an OAS member. The OAS secretary general, José Miguel Insulza, issued a statement saying the accord “opens the way to return Honduras to the hemispheric organisation”. He said it would be presented to the OAS’s permanent council on Monday. Honduras’s return to the OAS is expected to be made official during the organisation’s general assembly in El Salvador from 5-7 June. Honduras Colombia guardian.co.uk
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