UN agency says 11,000 have fled from western mountain region in a crisis so far overshadowed by siege of Misrata Thousands of people are fleeing heavy fighting in Libya’s western mountains region, close to the Tunisian border, as government forces seek to crush a rebellion that has been largely overshadowed by the siege of Misrata. According to the UN agency for refugees, UNHCR, around 11,000 refugees from the area have crossed the border into Tunisia in the past 10 days, mainly from the city of Nalut. “They are fleeing because of shelling and intensified fighting between government and opposition forces,” Firas Kayal of the UNHCR told the Guardian by phone from the Tunisian border. “The whole western mountains region has been under siege for two months now.” Kayal said 6,000 people, including many women and children, fled the sparsely-populated area in two days last weekend when bombardment of the area stepped up. “The main reason for departure is safety and security.” The Libyan government said there were pockets of resistance in the region, but most of the area was under its control. Those leaving for Tunisia were either the families of rebel fighters or being forced by them to depart, a spokesman said. According to news agencies which spoke to rebel fighters in the area, the towns of Nalut, Yifran, Qalaa and Zintan have seen heavy fighting in the past few days. Grad rockets, tank shells and anti-aircraft guns have been fired on Yifran, home to around 25,000, and medics were forced to abandon the hospital, said a rebel named as Belgassem. Rebels were defending the centre of Qalaa against a government offensive, he added. In Nalut, four rebels were killed in attempts to repel government forces, according to a rebel named as Ayman. A rebel spokesman called Abdelrahman told Reuters that fighters had attacked pro-Gaddafi forces on a hill west of Zintan, capturing a truck mounted with an artillery battery as well as light weapons and ammunition. There had been no Nato air strikes in the area of Zintan since last Friday, he said. The Tunisian defence ministry said that four rockets had hit territory a few hundred metres on its side of the border earlier this week. No one had been injured. The region is dominated by Berbers, a minority group in Libya who have suffered repression and discrimination by the Gaddafi regime for years. When uprisings began across Libya in mid-February, locals joined in, raising rebel flags. Forces loyal to Gaddafi moved swiftly to crush uprisings in towns and cities in the western, largely loyalist side of the country, but the western mountain region has continued to hold out. Refugees were reporting shortages in the area, said Kayal, but most were driven to leave by fear. “They say they are afraid of government shelling and have heard stories about killing and rapes.” In many cases, women were persuading men to flee, he said. “They’re all families – women and children. They are driving in their cars, loaded with mattresses and blankets, to Tunisia. Some say there has been shelling and Grad rockets in their area. Others say they have heard government forces are approaching so they decided to leave.” Fanush, 20, who fled Nalut three days ago with six members of her family, told the Guardian they had left because “we are so afraid from the bombing and his [Gaddafi's] army”. She had left behind two brothers who were fighting against government forces. “We are really suffering. All we want is freedom for Libya.” The people of Yifran had come under fire from rockets and tank shells, said Sefao, 33, who drove his uncle and their family out two weeks ago. “We fled because we cannot face heavy weapons. They have arrested a lot of people. The situation is very bad. There are tanks inside Yifran. They are killing everywhere.” Only three towns were in the hands of Gaddafi forces, he said. “Everywhere else is still liberated.” Refugees have reported shortages of food, water, electricity, fuel, medical supplies and cash in the western mountains. The UNHCR has set up a camp on a football field close to the border and many Tunisians are hosting refugees in their homes, said Kayal. “Hundreds of Tunisian families have opened their doors and put up signs in the road welcoming their Libyan brothers.” A local hotel was providing free accommodation and other families were crowded into community centres. Moussa Ibrahim, the Libyan government spokesman, said rebels were forcing families to cross into Tunisia to create the appearance of a humanitarian crisis. “We had intelligence showing they were planning this. We consider the people who crossed the border to be hostages [of the rebels]. We believe they have been taken against their will. It’s to the advantage of the rebels to have people suffering.” The number of rebels in the western mountains numbered only a few hundred, he said, but their strength was the terrain. “They exist in the [mountain] caves, not in the urban areas. They shoot from the mountains at our army and civilians. That’s why it’s difficult to completely eradicate them. It’s a very difficult [area] to cleanse.” Libya Refugees Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Many new peers cannot do their job properly if they are turned into ermine-clad battery hens Posh club declares itself closed to new members shock! In other circumstances, it would be right to ask why peers are backing a report that says the House of Lords is full. Are their Lordships struggling to find space in the tearoom or short of sunny spots to sip G&Ts on the terrace? But this report, from UCL’s Constitution Unit and an all-party array of peers and MPs, makes a serious point. It is a pity that it was dismissed, instantly, by Downing Street yesterday morning. Caught in a sort of half-life before promised reform, the Lords was packed by the last government and is being packed again, only partly in the interests of political balance. In the last year 117 peers have been created, including 39 Labour ones, taking the House to a complement of 792 members. If its membership was proportional to the last general election result, as the government wants, 269 more peers would be needed and the Lords would have 1,061 members. This is absurd. Not only is it expensive – many new peers have been vigorous in their take-up of daily expenses – but they cannot do their job properly if they are turned into ermine-clad battery hens. The report also criticises the way peers are appointed: there is too much patronage and too many former MPs, eased into the upper house after an inglorious Commons career. The answer is not just a smaller chamber – the US Senate manages with 100 members – but also democratic reform. In the meantime, “house full” signs should be hung on the door. Lords reform House of Lords Constitutional reform guardian.co.uk
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Economic output will suffer initially due to earthquake and tsunami but will pick up once rebuilding gains pace, report says Japan’s economy will slow significantly this year after the devastating earthquake and tsunami on 11 March, with the government needing to cut spending to rebuild the country’s battered north-east coast and ensure faster growth next year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Thursday. GDP will expand 0.8% this year, down sharply from the 1.7% growth previously forecast. But as reconstruction spending gains pace, the economy will expand 2.3% in 2012, faster than previous estimates for 1.3% growth, the OECD said. Japan still required fiscal discipline and needed to raise sales tax from 5 to 20%, it warned. “The immediate impact of the disaster is likely to be large, extending beyond the areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami. The experience of past disasters in Japan and other developed countries suggests that the negative short-term impact on economic output will be followed by a rebound as reconstruction spending picks up,” the report said. Japan is facing its worst crisis since the second world war. The magnitude 9 earthquake and a tsunami towering more than 10 metres left nearly 28,000 dead or missing and triggered radiation leaks at a nuclear power plant. The government estimates the material damage alone could top $300bn (£181bn), making it by far the world’s costliest natural disaster. Shortages of electricity and parts suggests long disruptions that could harm factories in other countries. Japan’s output could recover by the third quarter of this year, but private consumption could remain subdued due to weak consumer sentiment, the OECD said. The government is likely to submit to parliament a ¥4tn yen (£29.3bn) extra budget to remove debris and build temporary housing. It will avoid issuing new debt but politicians concede bond issuance is needed for future spending. Deflation will prevent the economy from expanding quickly enough to close the gap between supply and demand before the end of 2012, the report said. Global economy Japan Japan disaster guardian.co.uk
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Marine Conservation Society urges public not to use toilet as a bin, after cotton buds and condoms make return to coastline The amount of bathroom rubbish spread over Britain’s shoreline has risen by an average of 40% in the past year, a survey has found. Cotton buds, condoms, sanitary towels and tampon applicators were among the items recovered at the Marine Conservation Society’s Beachwatch Big Weekend last September. Overall there was a 6% increase in average litter levels on Britain’s beaches compared with a similar survey in 2010. Marine Conservation Society beachwatch officer, Lauren Davis, urged people to stop using their toilet as a “wet bin”. She said: “[Bathroom rubbish] is being flushed away with an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ perception. But sewerage networks and waste water treatment works are not designed to remove these sort of items and, unfortunately, more and more are ending up in our rivers and beaches.” Almost 5,000 volunteers cleaned 376 beaches across the UK for the Big Weekend, covering a total of 167km. Over 330,000 items of litter were collected; 7% of it was bathroom waste, which included almost 16,000 cotton buds. Only the north-west of the UK and Northern Ireland saw a decrease in the amount of bathroom rubbish found on beaches compared with the previous year. The largest increases were in the north-east, where levels tripled, and Wales, where they doubled. UK water companies backed the Marine Conservation Society’s push for people to stop flushing rubbish. Edmund Bramley, Yorkshire Water’s environmental regulation manager, said: “We support the Marine Conservation Society’s call for people to dispose of bathroom waste responsibly, by placing it in the bin, rather than flushing it down the toilet. By flushing things like baby wipes, cotton buds or nappies down toilets, people can end up causing damage both to their homes and the environment.” Hugo Tagholm, director of the clean water campaign Surfers Against Sewage, said: “We of course see this first-hand on lots of beaches around the UK, and it’s unfortunately no huge surprise to us. It’s worrying to see the continuing trend of increasing litter on our coastline, and it’s something we’re actively tackling with our nationwide supporter and membership base.” Pollution Waste Coastlines Marine life Ben Bryant guardian.co.uk
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Federal Aviation Administration takes steps to reassure public after a series of embarrassing incidents The US Federal Aviation Administration has fired two air traffic controllers for sleeping on the job and ordered a higher level of supervision over aircraft carrying the first lady or vice-president after a series of embarrassing incidents. The new air traffic rules and the firings come as the FAA struggles to reassure the public that air travel is safe. The agency has been shaken by five cases of controllers falling asleep on the job , a controller caught watching a DVD movie at his post and an aborted landing this week of a plane carrying Michelle Obama and vice-president Joe Biden’s wife, Jill . The controllers fired on Wednesday were assigned to radar facilities in Miami and Knoxville, Tennessee. They had been found sleeping during overnight shifts, according to the FAA. Under the new air traffic rules, flights carrying Michelle Obama or the vice-president will be handled by an air traffic supervisor rather than a controller, the agency said. The new rules apply to approaches and departures handled by a regional air traffic facility in Warrenton, Virginia, and takeoffs and landings at Andrews air force base in Maryland, where the presidential fleet is based. Flights with the president on board are already required to be handled by a supervisor. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it has opened an investigation into the aborted landing of Michelle Obama’s plane. The FAA moved swiftly in the case of the Miami controller, who the agency said was found sleeping at about 5am on Saturday at a regional radar facility that handles high-altitude air traffic for portions of Florida, the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. A preliminary review of air traffic tapes indicated he did not miss any calls from aircraft and there was no impact on flight operations. The Knoxville incident occurred on 19 February at a radar facility at McGhee Tyson airport. Officials said the controller made himself a makeshift bed and deliberately slept for about five hours despite attempts by a co-worker to wake him. The aborted landing involving Michelle Obama’s plane occurred on Monday at Andrews air force base just outside Washington. While aborted landings are not unusual, and the first lady was apparently not in serious danger, the episode became another embarrassment for the FAA. The incident occurred at about 5pm, when a Boeing 737 belonging to the Air National Guard, one of several guard planes used by the White House, came within about three miles of a massive C-17 cargo plane as the planes were approaching Andrews to land, according to the FAA and a base spokeswoman. The FAA requires a minimum separation of five miles between two planes when the plane in the lead is as large as the 200-tonne military cargo jet, in order to avoid dangerous wake turbulence that can severely affect the trailing aircraft. Andrews’ civilian air traffic controllers initially ordered the first lady’s plane to conduct a series of turns to bring it farther from the military jet. When controllers realised there still might not be enough time for the cargo plane to clear the Andrews runway before her plane landed, they directed the pilot to circle the airport. This “go-around” is considered a type of aborted landing. The required separation between the two planes “was compromised,” the NTSB said in a statement. The White House continued to refer questions about the incident to the FAA, although press secretary Jay Carney told reporters travelling aboard Air Force One with the president to California that he understood there was “no imminent danger for the first lady or Dr Biden or anyone else on the plane”. Carney said he had not spoken with the president about the incident. The FAA is also investigating the incident as a possible error by controllers at the Warrenton regional facility. United States Air transport Michelle Obama guardian.co.uk
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Official figures will show if chancellor George Osborne is on target with his deficit-reduction programme Official figures being published on Thursday will reveal whether the government hit its public borrowing forecasts for the last financial year. Economists expect public borrowing for the year to March, excluding financial interventions such as bank bailouts, to modestly undershoot chancellor George Osborne’s expectations of £146bn by about £3.5bn. The final monthly public finance figures for the 2010-11 financial year are predicted to show borrowing increased by £18bn-19bn in March, bringing the total for the year to as much as £142.5bn. The chancellor has set out austerity measures including £81bn of spending cuts and January’s 20% hike in VAT, resulting in hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs being axed. Osborne’s forecast, set by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, was revised down from £148.5bn when he delivered the annual budget in March. Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said with the fiscal squeeze now kicking in, attention would now focus on how quickly the public finances improve over the coming months. He said: “The chancellor is looking to reduce the public sector net borrowing excluding financial interventions to £122bn in fiscal 2011-12. While this was raised in the March budget from a previous target of £117bn, it still looks challenging given the headwinds facing the economy.” The improved overall economic performance through the past year and the VAT hike should have lifted tax receipts compared with March 2010. Government borrowing Economics Budget deficit Budget Tax and spending George Osborne guardian.co.uk
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New Hyundai Super Bowl Advertising TV commercial Body Pass No Price Coastal Super Combat App Review [HD]Apple iOS 4.0 leaked possible iPhone 5 Apple sues Samsung: here's the deal — Engadget So we all know that Apple’s suing Samsung alleging myriad IP infringements, but you may not know what all the fuss is about. On one. Got an iPhone or 3G iPad? Apple is recording your moves – O'Reilly … Pete Warden and Alasdair Allan have discovered that iPhones and 3G iPads running iOS 4 are regularly recording the location of devices into a hidden file. Apple earnings: 5 numbers to watch – Apple 2.0 – Fortune Tech Despite strong sales, iPad supplies and Japan’s quake make Q2′s report a hard one to call [caption id= 50% Of Apple's Revenue Now Comes From The iPhone Over the last 3 months (December 26th, 2010 – March 26th, 2011), Apple pulled in a grand total of 24.6 billion dollars. Now, … Apple awarded design patent for iPhone 4 — Engadget Apple could probably plaster most of its Cupertino campus with patents and patent applications if it wanted to, but we’re guessing there’s few that m. lmongrain says: Can't wait! Apple to ship new iPhone in Sept: sources http://t.co/XkV14VS
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Under the order, which goes into effect at midnight local time, it will be illegal to enter a 20km (12-mile) evacuation zone around the Fukushima nuclear reactor Tens of thousands of people who were evacuated from near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant risk arrest if they return home, after the government declared the area a no-entry zone due to high radiation levels. Under the order, which goes into effect at midnight local time, people living within a 20-kilometre radius of the atomic plant will be given up to two hours to enter the area to collect belongings. The move came amid concern over the long-term health risks posed by high levels of accumulated radiation, despite signs of progress in bringing the stricken facility under control. The government has also extended the evacuation zone to several locations outside the 20-kilometre zone, including areas in which as many as 130,000 people had initially been asked to leave voluntarily or stay indoors. Residents in those areas will be given a month to evacuate. The government’s chief spokesman, Yukio Edano, urged people living inside the new no-entry zone to abide by the order for the sake of their health. “The plant is not stable,” he told reporters. “We have been asking residents not to enter the area as there is a huge risk to their safety.” Under the order, people who enter the zone without permission face fines of up to 100,000 yen and possible arrest. “We beg the understanding of residents,” Edano said. “We really don’t want them to enter the area, but unfortunately some people are still living there.” Almost all of the 8,000 people living in the 20-kilometre zone have been evacuated, but some have refused to abandon their livestock or move from their homes into evacuation centres. Police said about 60 families had defied the evacuation order imposed after the crisis began, adding that some had been persuaded to leave. The contaminated bodies of as many as a 1,000 people who died in the 11 March earthquake and tsunami have yet to be recovered from the area. The stricter measure was introduced to stop people from returning to collect belongings and to prevent theft. Until now, police have not had the legal authority to block returnees. Edano said that over the next one to two months, one resident per household would be permitted to return home on chartered buses to collect belongings. They will all be required to undergo radiation screening on their way out. Those living within three kilometres of the plant and other areas where very high levels of radiation have been detected will not be allowed to return, even for a short period, Kyodo said. “We realise this is extremely inconvenient for residents, but we urge you to be patient,” Edano said. The prime minister, Naoto Kan, flew to Fukushima prefecture on Thursday to explain the order to officials and evacuees. Kan, whose approval rating has fallen over his handling of the nuclear crisis, said the government would enforce the no-go zone order. He asked the prefecture’s governor, Yuhei Sato, to help win the understanding of local communities, according to Kyodo news agency. Tens of thousands of people affected by the nuclear crisis, many of whom fled with nothing but the clothes they were wearing, face many more months living in evacuation centres. The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power [Tepco], said last week it would take between six and nine months to bring down radiation levels and make the facility safe, a time line some experts have described as optimistic. Edano conceded that Tepco had not been adequately prepared to cope with the disaster. “Leaving aside the question of whether the accident could have been predicted, it is clear that there was insufficient preparation. “We urge all nuclear plant operators to immediately take every possible precaution in light of the Fukushima disaster.” A Tepco official on Wednesday admitted that ful inside the plant’s No 1 reactor could be melting. ”I can’s say with absolute certainty that [the fuel] jas not melted,” Junichi Matsumoto said, adding that the firm had been unable to confirm the condition of the reactor’s core. Japan disaster Japan Nuclear power Natural disasters and extreme weather Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
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