Ahead of the Bafta TV awards on Sunday, photographer Phil Fisk shares his extraordinary portfolio of television stars Alice Fisher Eva Wiseman Tom Lamont
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Government vows to ‘suffocate environmental crime’ after 27% rise in Amazon deforestation in a year Hundreds of environmental protection officers are being deployed in the Brazilian Amazon after government satellites detected a sudden, unexpected surge in deforestation. On Wednesday, Brazil’s environment minister Izabella Teixeira announced the creation of a “crisis cabinet” to crackdown on illegal logging in the world’s largest tropical rainforest, after satellites registered a 27% hike in Amazon deforestation between August 2010 and April this year compared with the previous year. “The order is to suffocate environmental crime,” said Teixeira, following the release of images that showed at least 1,848 sq km of rainforest had been destroyed, compared with 1,455 sq km a year earlier. Satellite data painted an even more disturbing picture of deforestation in March and April this year when nearly 593 sq km of forest were lost – an increase of over 470% compared with the same period in 2010. Officials said the most dramatic situation was in the soy-growing state of Mato Grosso, where farmers are said to be using tractors and giant chains to rip up vast tracts of native forest. Brazil’s environmental protection agency, Ibama, this week vowed to launch 200 operations in the region by the end of the year, with support from armed federal police operatives. Illegal cattle and timber would be seized, it said. This week’s announcement comes after successive years in which Amazon deforestation fell dramatically. Last December Teixeira publicly celebrated reaching “the lowest level of deforestation in the history of Amazonia”. On Wednesday, however, Teixeira admitted the sudden reversal was “scary” and “atypical”. “Until this deforestation is reduced, none [of our agents] will leave the field,” she said. Brazil’s environment minister said it was too early to know what had caused the sudden spike in destruction. But many environmentalists are convinced it is linked to an ongoing and highly controversial debate over changes to Brazil’s forest code that Amazon farmers and ranchers hope will enable them to expand their properties, and boost economic development. Under the new proposals, the amount of rainforest that Amazon landowners are required to protect, currently set at 80%, could be reduced. Andre Muggiati, an Amazon-based campaigner for environmental group Greenpeace, said anticipation of such changes had sparked a “deforestation frenzy”. Many ranchers and deforesters were convinced they would be forgiven for newly razed areas, he said. “They are opening large areas right now and it is not even deforestation season because it is raining in the Amazon region,” he said. “If the bill is approved then we are going to have the largest deforestation [levels] in the Amazon and in Brazil in general in many years this year.” “It looked like the country was going one way – a good way for forest conservation – meeting targets, carbon emission reduction. We were really doing fine. But we decided to take a U-turn and go the other way. It is really bad what is happening,” Muggiati added. “The country is going backwards in terms of forest conservation, definitely.” Brazil’s Congress is expected to vote on changes to the forest code by the end of this month. Deforestation Conservation Forests Brazil Tom Phillips guardian.co.uk
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Former environment minister sentenced at Southwark crown court after pleading guilty to claiming more than £30,000 in bogus mortgage payments Elliot Morley has been jailed for 16 months, becoming the first former minister to be sentenced in the Westminster expenses scandal. Morley, a former environment minister, was sentenced at Southwark crown court, in London. Last month, he pleaded guilty to claiming more than £30,000 in bogus mortgage payments. He entered two guilty pleas for false accounting relating to his home in Winterton, near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, between 2004 and 2007. His barrister accepted it was not a question of “if but how long” he faced behind bars. Morley, whose conviction was the most high-profile since the expenses scandal broke, pocketed £30,428 by claiming for a phantom mortgage and inflating the amount he was previously paying. He wrongly filled out a total of 40 forms relating to payments for his home. In total, he claimed £16,800 on a phantom mortgage and £15,200 after inflating the amount he was previously paying, for which he should have been entitled to only £1,572. Speaking after Morley had entered his pleas, Simon Clements, the reviewing lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Mr Morley had claimed he was unaware the mortgage had been paid off. For most of us, paying off the mortgage is a red letter day, and members of the public have found it difficult to comprehend his explanation that he was not aware that had happened. “The parliamentary expenses system exists to assist the public’s representatives in carrying out their duties, but Mr Morley used it to line his own pockets with just over £30,000 – more than an average household’s annual income. Such behaviour is blatantly dishonest, and cannot be excused.” Morley’s prosecution overshadows a political career spanning more than 20 years. An MP for Scunthorpe from 1987 to 2010, the former teacher was one of Labour’s most prominent voices on agricultural issues and the environment. He was the party’s spokesman on rural affairs and animal welfare from 1989 until the 1997 election victory, and served under Tony Blair as environment minister from 2003 to 2006. MPs’ expenses House of Commons Crime guardian.co.uk
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Russian tycoon to join Putin’s All-Russia People’s Front Alexander Lebedev, owner of the Independent and Evening Standard newspapers, has announced he is quitting business in Russia to join Vladimir Putin’s latest political initiative as the country gets ready for presidential elections. Lebedev said security service pressure on his banking business had become so great it was impossible to continue. Yet he failed to explain why, after years of positioning himself as an opposition figure, he had decided to side with the powers-that-be. “I don’t think it’s possible to continue the banking business,” Lebedev said in an interview with Gazeta.ru , Russia’s most respected online news portal. “Within two months, I plan to leave the field and become an ordinary citizen.” The tycoon posted a statement on his website on Friday saying his Our Capital movement had decided to join the All-Russia People’s Front created by Putin earlier this month. The move comes after pressure has been building on National Reserve Bank, the jewel in Lebedev’s empire. Its headquarters were raided by masked police late last year, allegedly as part of an investigation into fraud at a small failed bank acquired by NRB in 2008. Lebedev has blamed the pressure on his public statements. The announcement came one day after Lebedev released a video detailing the raid and alleged corruption by the Federal Security Service officers involved. He later said the video had been uploaded to his website “by mistake” and would be re-released once it was finished. “That version was meant for closed viewing by the government, Central Bank and FSB,” he said. Lebedev has been allowed to acquire great wealth in Russia despite his oft-critical statements of the country’s leadership. Novaya Gazeta, the newspaper he co-owns with former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, is Russia’s leading opposition newspaper. He once proposed outfitting its journalists with guns, following the latest in a line of high-profile killings of journalists at the paper. Lebedev said in a statement that Our Capital, a social organisation he founded to oppose the politics of ousted Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, had decided to join Putin’s new movement. “Today we are ready not only to co-operate with the [new] Moscow leadership but also to support the People’s Front created upon Vladimir Putin’s initiative,” Lebedev said, adding that he hoped to focus on the fight against corruption. Putin announced the creation of the All Russia People’s Front on 6 May at a congress of the increasingly unpopular ruling United Russia party, saying it would unite social organisations like NGOs, trade unions and youth groups. Many analysts took the move as a sign Putin was seeking to build popular support ahead of parliamentary elections at the end of the year. The movement could also provide a new base of support should Putin seek to distance himself from United Russia, whose approval ratings have fallen to near record lows, should he decide to return to the presidency next year. Alexander Lebedev Russia Europe Vladimir Putin Miriam Elder guardian.co.uk
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Embattled retailer sells its 314 store book chain to fund controlled by Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut HMV has sold its Waterstone’s book chain to a fund controlled by Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut for £53m. Last week HMV alerted the market to interest in Waterstone’s from multiple bidders although it emerged that Mamut, who counts Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich among his friends, was considered to be the front runner . Mamut, who already owns San Francisco-based social networking site LiveJournal, already holds a 6.7% stake in HMV. Mamut has bought the business for cash through A&NN Capital Fund Management, a company controlled by a trust in which Mamut has an interest. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of June. HMV Group, which issued its third profit warning in April this year, put the 314-strong Waterstone’s chain up for sale in March. The company said on Friday that the sale represents an “important step towards strengthening the capital structure of the remaining HMV Group”. HMV said that it needs to reduce its borrowing requirements in the short term to “achieve a satisfactory refinancing” and “has concluded that the most timely and effective way to achieve this is through the disposal of Waterstone’s”. “We expect this deal to enable the Group to achieve a reduction in the group’s borrowing requirements, and, in turn, focus on plans for transforming the HMV Group into a broad-based entertainment business,” said Simon Fox, the chief executive of HMV Group. The proceeds of the sale – which will see £40m paid on completion in June and £13m in October – will be largely used to reduce HMV’s borrowing requirements. “We are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement to acquire Waterstone’s and its great heritage,” said Mamut. “I believe that our investment and strategy will secure a dynamic future for the UK’s largest bookshop chain and I look forward to working with its booksellers in building on the principle of excellent bookselling, which is at the very heart of the business.” HMV said that the sale is conditional on shareholder approval and also from the pension trustee, the pensions regulator as well as HMV’s banks “including a renegotiation of the group’s lending facilities”. “Any such transaction would likely be subject to, amongst other things, shareholder, lending bank and pension trustee approval,” the company said. “There can be no certainty that any transaction will be concluded and a further announcement will be made as and when appropriate.” HMV Group reported that total group sales continued to slide down 15.2% year-on-year in the 17 weeks to the of April. Within this HMV UK & Ireland saw sales fall 18.8% with international operations, in Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore, down 6.7%. Waterstone’s reported a sales fall of 11.3%. The company said in the 53 weeks to the end of April group profits before tax and exceptional items would be about £28.5m. Year end net debt is expected to be £170m. Media business HMV Retail industry Waterstone’s Booksellers Music industry Mark Sweney guardian.co.uk
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• Roadside bomb explodes near vehicles in Peshawar • One passerby dies but US consulate staff escape unharmed • Pakistan Taliban claims responsibility for the attack A roadside bomb exploded near a pair of US consulate vehicles carrying Americans in Peshawar, north-west Pakistan, on Friday, killing a Pakistani passerby and wounding several people including some of the passengers, officials said. The Pakistan Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack. In the wake of the 2 May US raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden elsewhere in Pakistan’s north-west, militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban have vowed revenge attacks including those targeting Americans in Pakistan. A US embassy spokesman, Alberto Rodriguez, said some of the Americans in the vehicle were only slightly wounded, and that only one of the vehicles was damaged during the attack. No high-ranking US official was in the vehicles, which were making routine trips to and from the consulate. Footage from the scene showed that the car apparently hit was a large, SUV. It appeared to have veered into a pole and the bonnet was damaged. Senior police official Shafi Ullah said the vehicle was bulletproof. Nearby buildings also were damaged during the blast. The US consulate in Peshawar is widely believed to be a front for CIA operations, and its employees have been targeted in the past. In August 2008, Lynne Tracy, then the top US diplomat at the consulate, survived a gun attack on her armoured vehicle. Peshawar lies just outside Pakistan’s tribal regions, where al-Qaida and the Taliban have long had hideouts. The city itself has witnessed numerous suicide and other bombings in recent years, including many that have killed security forces and ordinary civilians. The Bin Laden raid in Abbottabad has badly soured Pakistan-US relations. Pakistan is angry it was not warned in advance that the navy Seals would storm the compound, and insists it had no idea that Bin Laden was hiding there. US officials have visited Pakistan in recent days to try to patch up differences. Pakistan Taliban Osama bin Laden United States US foreign policy guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Couric’s Review of CBS Years Finds New Way to Embarrass Palin, Lets Fox and Plame Rage
May 19, 2011 No Comment
Ending her final night as anchor of the CBS Evening News with a “five years in five minutes” video retrospective, Katie Couric went out in sync with how she conducted herself since 2006 – challenging and discrediting conservatives while providing a platform to liberals to disparage conservatives.
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Palin Defends Gingrich Against 'Leftist Lame-Stream Media … Palin Defends Gingrich Against ‘Leftist Lame-Stream Media’ · Tweet · Share on Tumblr · Comment Post a Comment Share Article. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — In a pair of appearances on conservative talk shows Wednesday night … 'Talk About Racism!' Sarah Palin Defends Gingrich's 'Food Stamp … Sarah Palin Defends Gingrich’s ‘Food Stamp President’ Faux Pas[Video]. Posted by K. Lattimore on May 19th, 2011. Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. Just when you think this joke of a politician can say nothing else to, once again, authenticate her … Palin Defends Gingrich Against 'Leftist Lame-Stream Media' | Smirt Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — In a pair of appearances on conservative talk shows Wednesday night, Sarah Palin defended presidential contender Newt Gingrich’s criticism of fellow Republican Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan by … Palin Defends Gingrich Against 'Leftist Lame-Stream Media' » Honu 62 Palin Defends Gingrich Against ‘Leftist Lame-Stream Media’. May 192011. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — In a pair of appearances on conservative talk shows Wednesday night, Sarah Palin defended presidential contender Newt … Thursday Open Thread | Conservatives4Palin Palin defends Gingrich : While many Republicans are attacking Newt Gingrich for his remarks on “right-wing social engineering,” former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin defended the former speaker on Fox News last night. … KABCRadio says: Palin Defends Gingrich Against 'Leftist Lame-Stream Media' http://bit.ly/maOUWi
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Woman claims she was paid to make up story about injecting her eight-year-old daughter with Botox The Sun has denied claims that it knowingly published a false story about a woman who claimed she injected her eight-year-old daughter with Botox. In a sworn declaration to a California court, Sheena Upton said the tabloid newspaper gave her $200 to pose as “Kerry Campbell” – a mother who injected her daughter Britney with Botox for beauty pageants , TMZ.com reports. The part-time beautician from San Francisco said she then appeared on US TV shows Good Morning America and Inside Edition for an additional fee. Appearing as Campbell, Upton told viewers that she gave her daughter Botox and waxed her bikini line so she would become famous as a teenager. Her deposition came after her daughter was taken into care earlier this week by US child protection officials. “The truth is that I have never given my daughter Botox, nor allowed her to get any type of waxing, nor is she a beauty pageant contestant,” she wrote. Upton said her daughter was examined by a doctor at UCLA who confirmed that the girl had never been injected. The Sun denied it in any way provoked Upton into making up the story, adding that it only ran the article after the reporter who wrote the story watched Upton give Britney what appeared to be Botox injections. “The Sun strongly denies any suggestion it solicited or knowingly published a false story regarding Kerry Campbell and her daughter. The article was published in good faith, in common with a large number of other news organisations around the world, after being received in full from a reputable UK news agency,” the paper said in a statement. The paper added that it was considering legal action against Upton. The Sun Newspapers & magazines News International United States National newspapers Newspapers David Batty guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media Only five Democratic state senators had a chance to vote on Wisconsin’s voter ID bill before Republican Sen. Michael Ellis gaveled it through Thursday. The bill, which passed on a 19-5 vote , would require that voters present a photo ID before voting. Opponents of the bill say it infringes on the rights on minorities who are less likely to have a photo ID. “There is some racism in this bill,” Democratic state Sen. Spencer Coggs reportedly said . h/t: The Maddow Blog
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