David Petraeus, already an American national hero, is to replace Leon Panetta – in Barack Obama’s first major reshuffle Barack Obama is planning to conduct the first major reshuffle of his administration that would see General David Petraeus, the US commander in Afghanistan , take over as head of the CIA and Leon Panetta, the CIA director, become defence secretary. The Associated Press, which broke the story, reported that Obama would make the announcement on Thursday. It marks a huge advancement for Petraeus amid speculation that he will stand as Republican candidate for the presidency in 2016. He is already seen as a national hero in the US, credited with turning around the war in Iraq. That military background plus the CIA job will provide him with a good platform should be opt to run for the White House. The shifts have been prompted by the long planned retirement of the defence secretary, Robert Gates, who served in the post under George W Bush and was asked by Obama to stay on. Petraeus was due to leave his post in Afghanistan at the end of the year, having completed his term, and there has been speculation about his next job. AP, quoting administration and other sources, said the reshuffle would take place in the summer. The changes will come at an important juncture in the Afghanistan war. US and British forces fought on through the winter for the first time, taking Taliban positions, and they will see how much damage this has done when the Taliban resumes fighting over the spring and summer. In the near future, Petraeus is scheduled to provide Obama with proposals for a limited number of troop cuts, while Obama is due to announce in July how many US troops will begin to return from Afghanistan. Panetta, a Democrat, was initially greeted with caution by the CIA but, according to former CIA officials, he has won them over. In other changes, Ryan Crocker is to become the new ambassador to Afghanistan and Lieutentant-General John Allen will replace Petraeus, according to AP. David Petraeus United States CIA Barack Obama Afghanistan Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Rumor has it that CBS News is going to name Scott Pelley as Couric's successor. But what's the rush? You've been in last place for well over a decade. Another few days won't matter. Do not make (another) rash, premature, impulsive decision. Vet all your options – especially when the MRC’s 500,000 members are coming to the rescue. I'm pleased to announce that the Media Research Center has launched a national search committee and is soliciting recommendations for the next CBS Evening News anchor. CBS likes people with charisma – like Charlie Sheen, maybe? He too is looking for work. Or someone with “CBS depth” – so how about Britney Spears? Or maybe someone who is sweet, perky and – oh wait a minute, you tried that already. Instead of making any rash decisions, we urge you to postpone your decision and give us a chance to weigh in. And after the committee convenes, I will return to announce our recommendation. Let the search begin! But don't wait too, too long. The ratings footsteps you hear are Al Gore's Current TV gaining.
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Public spending on education in Africa has been increasing annually according to a new report, but how is the money distributed? • Get the data Over the last decade public spending on education in Africa has increased by more than 6% each year, according to a report released on Wednesday by the UN educational, scientific and cultural organisation (Unesco) . “The increase in investments has been accompanied by some spectacular results,” says the report. “Between 2000 and 2008, the number of children in primary schooling increased by 48% – from 87 million to 129 million. Enrolment in pre-primary, secondary and tertiary education has also grown by more than 60% during the same period.” Published by the UN agency’s Montreal-based Institute for Statistics , the report details government spending on education in each of the 45 sub-Saharan African countries. It presents the most up-to-date data on how much is spent on different levels of education, and digs out historical data to track trends over the last 10 years. The report also presents figures on the qualifications and salaries of teachers, the running costs of schools, and the provision of textbooks. Some key findings are: • In Burundi and Mozambique , education spending rose by an average of 12% annually over the last decade • Out of the 26 countries with comprehensive data, only one – the Central African Republic – reduced education spending since 2000 • Overall, sub-Saharan Africa spends 5% of its gross domestic product on education, which is second only to North America and Europe at 5.3% but in one-third of the region’s countries, half of all children still do not complete primary education • A total of 32 million children remain out of school • In some countries, such as Guinea , Mali, Rwanda and Zambia , development aid accounts for about 50% of government education budgets. But in the region as a whole, aid accounts for a much smaller fraction (5.6%) Wedged between the recent economic crises and looming population growth , most African governments will need to make strategic decisions on how to budget for education, says Unesco . The population of sub-Saharan Africa’s five to 14-year-olds is expected to grow by more than 34% over the next 20 years, and the region will need to respond to the demands of 77 million new students. And as neither domestic resources nor donor funding are likely to increase rapidly enough over the coming years, governments will need to make difficult decisions. If you had limited resources, which would you fund first: Primary or secondary schools? Textbooks or teacher salaries? And what do you care more about, expanding access or improving the quality of education? Currently, most countries in sub-Saharan Africa spend at least 10 times more on a university student than on a primary school pupil, says the report. And on average, eight out of every $10 spent on university education in Africa is subsidised by country governments. These figures raise “a serious question of equity”. “Should a country that cannot provide every child with a primary education cover almost 80% of the costs for tertiary students, who tend to come from wealthier backgrounds?” asks Unesco. “By shifting more resources to lower levels of education, governments might stimulate more household spending for higher education, without threatening the growth of the tertiary sector.” Unesco highlights the recent experience of Burundi , which brought the number of out-of-school children down from 723,000 in 1999 to just 10,000 in 2009. Over the same period, Burundi increased its investment in education from 3.2% of GDP to 8.3%. But what made the real difference, says the report, was the decision to dedicate a much larger chunk of the budget to primary education, effectively moving public money away from secondary schools and universities. Below, we’ve pulled out some of the figures from the report, looking at public investments across the different levels of education. The spreadsheet also contains additional data on total population and population under the age of 15. Let us know what you can do with the data. Data summary Download the data • DATA: download the full spreadsheet More open data Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian World government data • Search the world’s government data with our gateway Development and aid data • Search the world’s global development data with our gateway Can you do something with this data? • Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group • Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk • Get the A-Z of data • More at the Datastore directory • Follow us on Twitter • Like us on Facebook Development data Aid United Nations Mozambique Burundi Mali Zambia Guinea Rwanda Universal primary education International education news Claire Provost guardian.co.uk
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Some said the reality genre had died with Big Brother, but two new shows and the success of The Only Way is Essex suggest it’s more tanned and buffed than ever It’s the kind of casting announcement that can only be greeted with incredulity. “Cheeky chappy Gaz’s claim to fame is having a manhood the size of a TV remote control.” “Sexy diva Holly with her double FF fake boobs also isn’t afraid of getting into a scrap or two.” Meet the new stars of Geordie Shore, launching next month, the latest UK reality show to follow hot on the towering, bespangled heels of The Only Way is Essex. When Big Brother left our screens it was tempting to think that reality TV was dead and buried. But instead it has reinvented itself, using US shows such as Jersey Shore as templates for success. TOWIE – the ITV2 show that has gifted the tabloids a new set of stars in much the same manner that Big Brother once did, attracts an audience of almost a million live, and as many online. Reality TV is clearly very much still alive – only this time it comes wearing rather more mascara or sporting more buffed muscles. Geordie Shore show will air on MTV; which used to stand for “music television”. Those days are long gone: a glance at the schedule reveals wall-to-wall reality shows, including The Hills, Parental Control, 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom, Paris Hilton’s Dubai BFF and of course, Jersey Shore. Many of the channel’s viewers wouldn’t even have been alive in 1992 when MTV launched its first reality series The Real World, featuring naive middle-class participants. Since then reality shows have evolved so that they no longer mirror what most people would recognise as real life. One of the latest additions to the format is Sky Living’s The Hunks. “We’re thinking a cross between Baywatch and Jersey Shore – but with feelings,” claim the programme-makers, who also produced TOWIE. Ten gel-haired himbos are thrown together in a cliff-top penthouse overlooking the beach in Newquay for a summer of surfing, womanising and heavy drinking. The Hunks agonise over what to wear, what to drink (Malibu and Amaretto are rather unlikely favourites) and whether or not to wax their chests. Much of their time is spent preening and refurbishing themselves in a never ending routine of teeth (and eye) whitening, press-ups and spray-tanning. A philosophical debate of sorts occurs when one of them is revealed to be gay. “I’m not homophobic or raceophobic but …” a housemate tails off, almost immediately losing the thrust of his argument. Things start happening, for want of a better term, when the dudes head into town, a sight to behold with their undersized T-shirts and oversized muscles. “Let’s ‘ave it” they chant, and inevitably, drunken debauchery ensues. Watching The Hunks is an unsettling experience: you try to avert your eyes, but can’t quite turn away. You can’t help wondering when something is going to happen, but it never really does. There seems to be no limit to the number of British remakes of hit US shows. Also in production is Geordie Finishing School for Girls which will take four affluent young women from the south of England and transport them to “the other side of the tracks” on a run-down Tyneside estate. It all sounds rather reminiscent of The Simple Life, although at least Nicole and Paris seemed to be in on the joke. So does the prospect of Geordie Shore and its six weeks of “unadulterated partying Toon-style” have you reaching for the record button? Is The Hunks a must-see? Is TOWIE on your must-watch list? Let us know below … Reality TV Television Kathy Sweeney guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Afraid To Face Angry Voters, Rep. Paul Ryan Sneaks Out A Back Door After Raucous Town Hall
April 27, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Paul Ryan is flipping out that town hall attendees aren’t going to follow his command to “play nice” in front of the media. Can you imagine the sheer arrogance? Do you think he told Tea Party members to behave nicely during last year’s health care town halls? It’s a joy to watch his constituents let him have it last night. What a little weasel: KENOSHA – Protesters waited for Congressman Paul Ryan outside a listening session at Gateway Technical College in Kenosha, many of them were seniors holding preprinted signs that read ‘Hands Off My Medicare.’ They chanted, “Ryan stop lying!” There was capacity crowd inside the school’s Madrigrana Auditorium. “Do not renew the Bush tax credit for the wealthy,” one man said during the public comment period, even giving out his phone number in front of everyone. “I’ll debate these issues with you anytime, just call me.” At times, the Janesville Republican sounded more like a referee than a lawmaker. “If you’re yelling, I just want to ask you to leave,” Ryan requested. “If you’re going to scream out like that, it’s just not polite to everyone. We’ve got media here. Let’s prove to them that Wisconsinites can be cordial with one another.” TODAY’S TMJ4 set up an interview with Ryan following the meeting, but it was scrapped by staffers and police over a security concern. The congressman changed the door where he planned to exit and left in a different vehicle than the one than he arrived in. “There were just definitely some loud hecklers who came that gave the police a little concern ,” Ryan told TODAY’S TMJ4 reporter by phone. “I left in another car with the police. My car, some people did surround. But, they didn’t cause any problems and I had a staffer who drove my car and we had really no problems.” Ryan insists the hurried exit should not be “blown out of proportion.”
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Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love will hit Walmart stores next week, as the singer claims her health issues are now ‘resolved’ Aretha Franklin has announced her first album in eight years. With her mystery illness “resolved”, the 63-year-old revealed that she will independently release Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love next week. This is the thrid time Franklin is releasing a record called Aretha. But unlike the self-titled albums of 1961, 1981 and 1986, this one is being made available through the singer’s own label, Aretha Records, and she produced most of it herself. Despite reports that she was working with R Kelly , the only other production help comes from Franklin’s sons, Kecalf and Eddie. “It’s definitely going to take the boomers back,” she said last month, “but it’s also contemporary.” Franklin’s 38th studio album is a welcome surprise after almost a year of health scares. She was forced to cancel a string of concerts last year, and though she didn’t name her illness, the singer was reported to be suffering from pancreatic cancer . “The problem has been resolved,” she claimed in January, after undergoing an operation. Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love will be released on 3 May. For its first month, the album will only be available through US retailer Walmart; from 3 June, it will be available through digital services and other shops. The album features modern standards and familiar classics, including Theme from a Summer Place, gospel hymn His Eye Is On the Sparrow, and a version of BB King’s Sweet Sixteen. The bonus track is a live recording of Franklin performing at Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration in 2009, singing My Country, ‘Tis of Thee. “Ladies, take a good look at the photo of me on this album,” Franklin said. “This is how you’re supposed to look when you’re a woman falling out of love. Don’t sit by the phone waiting for him to call you, girlfriend; I want you to listen very closely to the lyrics of the songs on this album and you’ll hear a few good tips. Go out and have a ball!” Franklin’s last studio album, 2003′s So Damn Happy , reached No 33 on the US charts. Aretha Franklin Soul R&B Sean Michaels guardian.co.uk
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Animal-rights group risks alienating supporters by using pornographic-style posters Peta appears to have a very simple strategy when it comes to campaigning for animal rights: generate as much noise and attention as possible by unsettling and disrupting sensibilities through the use of arresting, controversial imagery. The campaign group has a long tradition of using models and celebrities to catch the eyes of the indifferent and its latest poster runs with this theme to the extreme. This time we see a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader called Bonnie-Jill Laflin , who now acts as the NBA’s only female scout , posing naked in a locker room with a caption asking: “Want my body? Go vegetarian!” The Peta website explains that “sexy NBA scout Bonnie-Jill Laflin bares her body in a sizzling ad for PETA to show how hot a vegetarian diet can be”. It continues: A meat-free diet promotes good health and protects against numerous diseases, including heart disease, cancer, strokes, and diabetes. Vegetarians and vegans typically weigh 10 to 20 pounds less and live six to 10 years longer than their carnivorous counterparts. Scientists have also found that vegetarians and vegans have stronger immune systems than their meat-eating friends. Laflin also explains why she agreed to do the poster: I hope after seeing this campaign that people will … want to go to peta.org and get more educated and see what happens to these animals in slaughterhouses and how horrible it is, because basically you’re eating fear. So when you see these animals being slaughtered and tortured, that you’ll think twice about ordering that steak. I don’t have too many quibbles with the notion that eating a vegetarian or meat-reduced diet can have significant health benefits. However, I do have a problem with Peta presenting the idea that by becoming vegetarian you can somehow “get” Laflin’s body. Presumably, the reason Laflin has the body offered to us in the poster has very little to do with the exclusion of dead animals from her diet, but because of her genetic inheritance and the fact that she exercises every day of her life, as she admitted in a recent ESPN interview . I’ve been athletic all my life and was also a professional dancer for the NFL and NBA. Working out is an important part of my daily lifestyle. I do weight training, pilates and the bar method. Another (far larger) problem with the ad – and it hardly needs pointing out – is its blatant sexism. It is insulting on a number of levels. First, we have a woman being used as a piece of meat to urge people not to eat pieces of meat. Perhaps this is some kind of post-modern, cultural subversion thing that has gone completely over my head? But, sorry, I just don’t see it. Second, Peta and Laflin are utilising a clichéd Playboy-style pose and milieu – male locker room, pushed-out buttocks, turned head, one foot on tip-toes etc – that not only belittles and objectifies Laflin, but also implies that a man might only want to become a vegetarian because he “wants” Laflin’s body. Third, this is not the first time Peta and Laflin have combined to produce such an ad. In 2008, she was filmed lying on a table , but that time she was wearing something. Admittedly, it was little more than dental floss and lip gloss, but it seems to suggest that the creatives at Peta thought that they should go even further in their next campaign rather than have a re-think. So, who exactly is Peta trying to reach with this style of poster? I can’t believe that it only wants to turn 18-year-old jocks into vegetarians. I would guess that Peta has a disproportionately strong female following, so doesn’t this poster risk alienating supporters rather than attracting new advocates? If it really is just about making a noise then, well done Peta, I’ve played into your hands. But I seriously doubt whether this poster wins friends and influences people in quiet the way you might have imagined. Activism Food Animal welfare Advertising Food & drink Leo Hickman guardian.co.uk
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Royal wedding inspires couple to marry with ‘royal carriage’ theme and surrounded by guards in furry hats and scarlet coats It was a wedding fit for a British princess – but by the increasingly elaborate standards of the Chinese elite, it looked almost modest. A couple in Nanjing have married in a ceremony inspired by the forthcoming royal nuptials , complete with guards in tall, furry hats and scarlet coats. They waved regally from their horse-drawn carriage as they rode through the eastern city in a procession costing 50,000 yuan (£4,600). Lavish wedding celebrations are becoming increasingly popular in China and the industry is said to be growing by as much as 20% a year. While the legal procedures are a bargain – it costs less than a pound to register a marriage – banquets can include hundreds of guests. A growing number of wealthy couples have added ceremonies, which can mix western or old-fashioned Chinese rituals with a dash of the unexpected – such as Mickey Mouse appearing to help with proceedings. The Nanjing parade, held earlier this month, involved 50 people, a dozen cars and two horses. It was led by four women wearing white dresses and floral wreaths on their heads, and carrying a square banner in red, white and blue with the couple’s names printed on it. “There’s an exotic quality to a wedding like this. I asked my girlfriend for her opinion and she liked the idea of riding in a carriage, so we decided to do it,” said the 23-year-old groom, Wang Xueqian. He added that the Chinese element of the celebration – firecrackers – had startled the horses into rocking the carriage slightly. Wedding planner Hu Lu, who arranged the procession, said the “royal carriage” theme was increasingly popular and three more couples had already booked it for next month. “Every bride wants to be princess Snow White when they get married,” she said. In 2009 one Chinese bride got married in a dress with a train more than 1.2 miles long, decorated with 9,999 silk roses. Another wedding held the same year – reportedly for the daughter of a coal mining boss in Shanxi province – was said to have cost 6m yuan. Photographs circulated on the internet showed a procession composed of Rolls-Royces, Ferraris, and Mercedes cars with several cameramen filming from Jeeps. Almost 12 million couples got married in 2009, spending a total of 450bn yuan, according to the Committee of Wedding Service Industries of the China Association of Social Workers and Tsinghua University. China Royal wedding Monarchy Weddings Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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Lib Dem president, speaking at Yes to AV campaign event, says prime minister ‘knows first past the post is corrupt’ The Liberal Democrat president, Tim Farron, has claimed that David Cameron’s lasting legacy as prime minister will be his decision to defend an “indefensible” electoral system. Campaigning for a Yes vote in the referendum on changing to the alternative vote system, Farron said Cameron had turned his back on a long Conservative tradition, stretching back to Disraeli and Baldwin, in favour of evolution of the voting system. He also claimed first past the post had made possible the “organised wickedness” of unemployment under years of Thatcherism, as well as preserved slavery and empire. His criticism of Thatcher prompted a rebuke from Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK Independence party, who called on all sides in the referendum campaign not to resort to personal abuse. Farron said: “The more shrill and terrified the establishment sound, the more you know that voting Yes is right. “I thought he [Cameron] stood for change, progress and reform – he was the future once. “Does he really want to be remembered as the last defender of a discredited system? Whether he wins or loses, his legacy will be defending the indefensible”. He argued that, historically, the Conservatives have a good record of understanding when it is time for democracy to evolve. “Cameron knows the system is corrupt, and he knows he could and should make this small and vital reform,” he said. “He has got eight days to remember the kind of person he was.” He said the mass unemployment of the 80s “was organised wickedness given the veneeer of legitimacy by an electoral system that gave the Conservatives 100% of Britain’s power despite being opposed by 60% of the electorate”. First past the post predated the empire and slavery and kept both in existence, he added. And he said: “Do we want to be the generation mocked by our children and grandchildren for bottling this change, or do we want stand up to the press barons in this most Britsh of weeks to make a very British change, a small change that will make a big difference?” Farage and Farron were sharing the Yes platform with the former Labour former home secretary Alan Johnson and the leader of the Green party, Caroline Lucas. The Yes event came as campaign organisers said the outcome of the referendum would turn on whether Labour voters decided to back change and saw the status quo of first past the post as likely to entrench the Tory party in power for another century. Johnson acknowledged that Labour was divided over the issue – an inevitable result of the fact that the party can win under first past the post. He said: “I cannot imagine anyone joining a radical progressive party like the Labour party and thinking the electoral system is absolutely perfect and does not need change in any way.” He argued that “even though we can win through first past the post, we think it is a miserably disempowering system that belongs in the past. It is not of this age”. Johnson said the current system had been devised by a tiny political elite when most working men and women did not have the vote, and had been designed to suit the establishment’s preference for a two party system. Labour should not become part of that establishment, he said, adding: “It is against our history and our principles.” Farage, a supporter of a proportional system, complained: “The second-ever national referendum has degenerated into a war of abuse. Professional politicians bickering with one another does nothing to enthuse people to go out and vote next Thursday.” He said the people to whom he had spoken were completely turned off by the referendum, adding: “Very bad mistakes have been made on both sides.” He argued: “First past the post is seen by the younger generation as completely bankrupt. So my feeling is that, if the No campaign wins this, the issue of electoral reforms will be buried for a couple of decades. “If Yes wins, then at least people can vote with their conscience at the next election and can put their first choice against someone they actually believe in. “As the European elections [conducted by a form of proportional representation] have shown, that can produce some really surprising results.” AV referendum Alternative vote Electoral reform David Cameron Conservatives Alan Johnson Labour UK Independence party (Ukip) Liberal Democrats Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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UK may suspend aid after envoy is given formal notice for describing president’s rule as autocratic in leaked cable Malawi has expelled the British ambassador after he criticised the southern African country’s leadership as autocratic in a leaked diplomatic cable, a government spokesman has said. The move defied warnings from the Foreign Office and will strain ties between Malawi and its former colonial ruler. The UK is a major aid donor to Malawi, which faces a freeze in foreign assistance over its draconian laws against homosexuality and a media crackdown. The British envoy Fergus Cochrane-Dyet was given a formal letter of expulsion on Tuesday night, Vuwa Kaunda, a government spokesman, told Reuters. “Government has decided to expel High Commissioner Fergus Cochrane-Dyet because the tone in the leaked cable was not diplomatic … government has lost confidence in him,” he said. In London, the Foreign Office said it had nothing to add to an 19 April statement which stated that if Malawi pursued such action “there were likely to be consequences affecting the full range of issues in the bilateral relationship”. Malawi’s Weekend Nation newspaper published excerpts of what it said was a March 2011 British diplomatic cable which said President Bingu wa Mutharika was “becoming ever more autocratic and intolerant of criticism”. Diplomatic sources at the British mission confirmed the authenticity of the cable. Mutharika has been heavily criticised by rights groups for trying to suppress free speech. Malawi’s government is heavily dependent on foreign aid, with donor funding normally accounting for more than 40% of official receipts. Malawi Aid guardian.co.uk
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