Government fund being set up to help local authorities in England switch from fortnightly to weekly rounds Eric Pickles has defended the government’s plans to offer councils financial support to restore weekly rubbish collections , saying the proposal is what most people want. A £250m fund is being set up to help local authorities in England switch from fortnightly to weekly bin rounds under plans unveiled by the communities and local government secretary. Conservatives see the policy as delivering on a pledge the party made in opposition. In June, the coalition government faced criticism after its waste review revealed that councils would not have to bring back weekly waste collections . Labour accused the government of breaking a pre-election promise to abandon fortnightly bin collections, describing it as a “huge missed opportunity”. Unveiling the move ahead of the Tory party conference in Manchester, Pickles said: “Weekly rubbish collections are the most visible of all frontline services, and I believe every household in England has a basic right to have their rubbish collected every week. “Our fund will help councils deliver weekly collections and, in the process, make it easier for families to go green and improve the local environment.” He told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme that “most people would prefer to see a weekly collection”, but stressed that it would be up to individual local authorities to decide how they gathered their waste. “If councils want to have a fortnightly collection and are supported by their populations, then fair enough,” he said. Despite dismissing suggestions that the announcement was designed to attract favourable publicity in the run-up to the conference, Pickles conceded: “I may be making a passing reference to this on my speech on Monday.” He said that while the money on offer was more than originally planned, it was still the result of careful budgeting. “The total money available … is £1bn, so to be able to find a quarter of a billion is something that we had to put our mind to,” he said. “It’s not easy to find [these sums] – my department had been cutting down a lot on waste.” The £250m weekly collections support scheme is expected to begin in April. Funding will be available to English councils that guarantee to retain or reinstate weekly collections for at least five years and pledge to improve recycling rates and provide improvements such as reducing fly-tipping and litter. Councils will be able to bid for funding individually or in groups and can include the private sector “where this increases value for money”, Pickles said. Last year, the communities secretary told the Daily Mail he was an ardent supporter of weekly bin collections , explaining: “It’s a basic right for every English man and woman to be able to put the remnants of their chicken tikka masala in their bin without having to wait a fortnight for it to be collected.” Eric Pickles Conservatives Liberal-Conservative coalition Conservative conference 2011 Local government Waste Cherry Wilson Sam Jones guardian.co.uk
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Yemeni forces say they have killed US-born radical Muslim cleric, who has been linked to 9/11 and Fort Hood shootings Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born spiritual guru of al-Qaida’s most active grouping, has been killed, the Yemen defence ministry has said. The ministry said Yemeni forces killed Awlaki and some of his associates, though it did not say where and when. “The terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed along with some of his companions,” it said in a statement sent by text message to journalists. His death could not be immediately corroborated. The US-born civil engineer-turned radical Muslim cleric had been implicated in a botched attempt to bomb a US-bound plane in 2009. His internet sermons and his slick magazine Inspire had positioned him as a leading figure in the radical movement following the death in May of Osama bin Laden. Aged 40, he was young, eloquent, spoke English and Arabic and used Facebook and YouTube to exhort Muslims around the world to kill Americans. Yemen al-Qaida Middle East United States US national security September 11 2001 Global terrorism guardian.co.uk
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The former police chief whose corruption convictions were quashed says he has returned to Scotland Yard Ali Dizaei, the former police chief who was dismissed over convictions for corruption only for them to be quashed, has been reinstated as a commander at Scotland Yard, he says. Dizaei, who spent more than a year in prison after being convicted of abusing his power as a senior police officer, still faces a retrial on the charges. He said a police appeal tribunal unanimously dismissed his sacking. “I am delighted to be reinstated. I have always wanted to be a Met police officer and now vow to clear my name.” There was no immediate comment from the Metropolitan Police Authority. Dizaei was jailed for four years in January 2010 after a jury at Southwark crown court found that he had tried to frame a young web designer in a row over £600. Dizaei was dismissed from the police service in disgrace, ending a 25-year career. But in May this year, the court of appeal ruled that new evidence “significantly discredits” the principal witness against him . Dizaei was a vocal critic of Scotland Yard’s record on race and some of his colleagues were said to have greeted his conviction by popping champagne corks. After his conviction his wife investigated the background of his main accuser, Waad al-Baghdadi, and found the jury at the original trial were asked to believe he was of good character, unaware he was allegedly using the name of his dead father to steal thousands of pounds from the British benefits system. Dizaei said the fact that his wife, who had no training in investigative skills, could uncover this, showed how poor the investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission had been. During the appeal hearing it also emerged that Baghdadi told the jury he was born and lived in Iraq, when he was born in Iran. Baghdadi had also given the jury the wrong information about his date of birth and had not testified under his real name. The court of appeal found he had “maintained those false details … on oath before the jury” and was helped to enter the UK by a false document as he escaped “the cauldron of Iraq/Iran”. Ali Dizaei Metropolitan police Police London Haroon Siddique guardian.co.uk
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Bodyguard tells court Conrad Murray had him take away IV drip and medicines from near body A former bodyguard for Michael Jackson has testified that the pop star’s doctor asked him to grab vials of medicine and an IV bag before an ambulance was called for the singer on the day he died. Witnesses on the third day of the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr Conrad Murray over Jackson’s 2009 death described a chaotic scene at the singer’s mansion. Prosecutors say Murray, who has admitted giving Jackson the powerful anaesthetic propofol that morning as a sleep aid, had discovered Jackson was not breathing at around 11.56am. Jackson’s personal chef described Murray running down the stairs at the singer’s Los Angeles mansion between 12.05pm and 12.10pm on 25 June 2009. “His energy was very nervous and frantic and he was shouting: ‘Get help, get security, get [Jackson's son] Prince,’” Kai Chase said. Bodyguard Alberto Alvarez said he was one of the first members of the household to arrive in Jackson’s bedroom. “While I was standing at the foot of the bed, he [Murray] reached over and grabbed a handful of vials and then he said ‘Here, put them in a bag,’” Alvarez said. Alvarez said Murray pointed at an IV stand by Jackson’s bed and told him to take away one of the saline bags hanging there. The drip bag contained “what appeared to me like a milky white substance. I recall seeing it at the bottom of the bag.” Prosecutors say the milky substance was propofol, which authorities deemed to be the main cause of Jackson’s death. Prosecutors have suggested Murray was trying to cover up evidence of the drugs he had given Jackson by having them bagged up and by not immediately calling for an ambulance. Murray’s defence lawyer, Ed Chernoff, asked Alvarez about how, according to his testimony, he had the time within a minute or less of walking into Jackson’s bedroom to usher the children out the door, bag up the drugs and take down an IV bag before calling for an ambulance at 12.20pm. “I’m very efficient, sir,” Alvarez replied. Asked why he complied with Murray’s request to remove the bag and vials of medicine, Alvarez told the court: “I thought we were packing to get him ready to go to the hospital.” Murray’s defence team has argued that Jackson gave himself sedatives and extra propofol when the doctor was out of the room and the additional dose killed him. The trial continues. Conrad Murray Michael Jackson United States guardian.co.uk
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An eight-month E coli outbreak across the UK left was not publicised at the time because its origins were unknown An eight-month E coli outbreak across the UK left 250 people ill and one dead but was not publicised at the time because its origins were unknown, health officials say. After six months of investigations the infection was ultimately linked to people handling loose raw leeks and potatoes in their homes, said the Health Protection Agency (HPA), which has only now acknowledged the outbreak. The cases began last December and continued until July. In total 250 victims – 100 of them under 16 – were left sick with vomiting and diarrhoea. Of those, 74 needed hospital treatment, including four who developed a rare digestive disorder which can lead to kidney failure in children. One unnamed patient, who the HPA said had underlying health problems, died. The 74 in hospital were treated for haemolytic uraemic syndrome, a serious but rare complication of E coli infection, although most people recover from it. The outbreak involved a rare strain of E coli 0157 called Phage Type 8 (PT8). It affected 193 people in England, 44 in Scotland and 14 in Wales. While 40% of the 250 were under-16s, 69% were female. In each of the past three years an average of 81 people across the UK have been infected with E coli 0157 PT8. The HPA said it, Health Protection Scotland and Public Health Wales began becoming aware of increased numbers of E coli cases from December onwards. An initial inquiry, which asked all those affected about their food intake and places they had visited, proved inconclusive. Unlike other E coli outbreaks it was not possible to identify one source for the outbreak, such as a commercial or children’s farm, or food producer. It was only after a second round of in-depth interviews with 30 sufferers that investigators realised that victims were 40 times more likely to have been in a home where people handled leeks sold loose and 12 times more likely to have been in a household where potatoes bought in or sold from sacks had been handled, compared with a control group of 62 unaffected people. “Our study showed a statistically significant association with raw loose leeks and potatoes from sacks, but these vegetables may not be the only source of contamination,” said Dr Bob Adak, an HPA gastrointestinal expert who led the multi-agency outbreak control team that investigated it. Soil on the vegetables is thought to have been the likely source of the E coli bacteria. “In this outbreak, which is now over, the vegetables could have carried traces of contaminated soil. It is possible people caught the infection from cross-contamination in storage, inadequate washing of loose vegetables, insufficient hand washing after handling the vegetables or by failing to thoroughly clean kitchen equipment, utensils or surfaces after preparing the vegetables.” A spokeswoman said the HPA did not alert the public to the ongoing outbreak because they did not know where it had originated and therefore could offer no useful public health advice. “At the outset it was not clear what was causing the outbreak and we had no information that would have enabled the public to take any steps to protect themselves,” she said. “It was only following extensive and complex epidemiological investigations and analysis that a cause emerged. “Although the outbreak is over, we feel it is still important to share our findings with the public so that they can take the appropriate action to guard against any possible recurrence. “As the number of new cases had declined significantly by June, and there was not an immediate need to issue a health alert to the public, we waited until FSA’s customary consultation processes with industry and consumer organisations were completed before making this information public. “During the upcoming autumn and winter months, people are more likely to be using these types of vegetable in their cooking, so it was also decided that now was the right time to make this information public.” Dr Andrew Wadge, chief scientist at the Food Standards Agency (FSA), which was also involved in the outbreak control team, said: “It’s sadly a myth that a little bit of dirt doesn’t do you any harm; soil can sometimes carry harmful bacteria and, although food producers have good systems in place to clean vegetables, the risk can never be entirely eliminated. Control of infection from E coli O157 relies on an awareness of all potential sources of the bacteria and high standards of hygiene where it may be present. “This outbreak is a timely reminder that it is essential to wash all fruits and vegetables, including salad, before you eat them, unless they are labelled ‘ready to eat’, to ensure that they are clean. It is also important to wash hands thoroughly as well as clean chopping boards, knives and other utensils after preparing vegetables to prevent cross contamination”, Wadge added. E coli Health Health policy Denis Campbell guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Former NBC News Producer Yells at NPR For Missing Leftist Wall St. Protest
September 29, 2011 No Comment
What do NBC News producers do after they retire? Sandy Goodman has become a writer for The Huffington Post, where he has demonstrated how liberal they have been for years at NBC. His latest post denounces NPR in an “open letter” for taking 11 days to notice a leftist “Occupy Wall Street” protest on the air. Goodman declared: “I've hated Ralph Nader ever since he was personally responsible for George W. Bush's election in 2000, but he and others sure are right when criticizing NPR for not covering the left and these protests (his phone call no doubt helped lead to NPR's belated coverage). If the Tea Party farts, that's news. But God forbid you should cover anything too far left of center.” NPR ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos aroused Goodman’s ire when he wrote on Monday about leftist complaints that NPR was ignoring these leftist protests. The ombudsman dutifully quoted Dick Meyer, the network’s executive editor: “The recent protests on Wall Street did not involve large numbers of people, prominent people, a great disruption or an especially clear objective.” Goodman was correct to be angry that NPR wanted some blood in the streets or broken windows before there was “news.” But neither NPR nor Goodman seems aware that tens of thousands of abortion foes march on Capitol Hill each January in a “March for Life,” which NPR routinely ignores. The NPR ombudsman ruled “the complaints have validity,” but did not reflect on the notion of pro-Obama media bias, that perhaps protests are less newsworthy when they have the potential to embarrass a Democratic president. He began: “What a disgraceful decision to have avoided coverage for so long, and having your ombudsman
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Click here to view this media At a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa Thursday, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich answered a question from a woman who was concerned that he supported the idea of religion imposing values on Americans. “I’m very concerned that a branch of Christianity has gotten some of its tenets into our laws like stem cell research, linking foreign aid to reproductive issues and so forth,” she told the former House Speaker. “If you were president, would you work hard to make Christian social issues the law of the land?” “I don’t know that the two you just cited are Christian social issues,” Gingrich replied. “I think Orthodox Jews probably have as profound a belief as Christians do on both those issues.” “I don’t regard that as imposing a particular branch of Christianity. That’s an argument about what values do you have whatever your religion happens to be. My argument about religion is different. We said in our founding document, we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights. Now should we teach children that or not? Should they learn what the founding fathers meant or not?” He continued: “The idea that taking school prayer out in 1963 made the country better, I don’t see any evidence that children who don’t spend a moment recognizing that they’re subservient to God let’s you approach God in anyway you want to. There is an enormous difference between a culture which believes that it is purely secular and a culture that believes that it is somehow empowered by our creator. And I always tell my friends who don’t believe in this stuff, “Fine, how do you think we came to — we’re randomly gathered protoplasm? We could have been rhinoceroses but we got lucky this week?’” “Now, that is if you assume it is lucky to be human rather than rhinoceros. I don’t want — knowing the way the news media works, I do not want ‘Gingrich announces anti-rhinoceros hostility’ to come out of this meeting.” EDITOR’S NOTE: Rhinoceros, Newt, really? Do you think a dude who’s cheated on his wives as many times as you should open himself up to a series of “horny” jokes?
Continue reading …President Obama’s half-uncle was in court today on drunk-driving charges —and he seemed to find the media’s attention rather funny, notes the Boston Herald , which describes him as giggling and “stifling laughter” a number of times. Accompanied by attorneys and an unidentified man, Onyango Obama made a very brief appearance…
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The female victims, aged 17, 18 and 19, in serious condition after incident on John Fearon Walk in North Kensington Three teenagers were in a serious condition in hospital on Thursday night after being shot in the street. The female victims, aged 17, 18 and 19, were shot outside a property on an estate in North Kensington, west London. Police hunting the gunman were investigating if the attack was a botched drive-by shooting. It was initially believed that only one shot was fired. One of the victims was taken to hospital in a critical condition but has since improved. The victims’ injuries are not believed to be life threatening. Scotland Yard said the teenagers were shot outside an address in John Fearon Walk at around 7.15pm. The 18-year-old was treated for gunshot wounds at the scene before being taken to hospital by air ambulance. The other two victims made their own way to hospital. A police spokesman said they were alerted to the incident by the ambulance service, which had received reports that several females had been shot and injured. The spokesman said: “We have got officers down there trying to piece together what is going on. At this stage we are doing all we can.” An investigation is being led by Trident detectives, who are responsible for dealing with gang crime in black communities. No arrests have been made. Karen Buck, the MP for Westminster North, expressed her concern as she visited the Mozart estate, where the attack took place. The Labour politician, who has previously called for crackdowns on knife and gun crime, tweeted: “On Mozart estate after reports of 3 girls being shot. Desperately worried about local gang and youth violence. We have to get a grip.” Community leaders have made several attempts to make the area safer in recent years. Yew trees and a herb garden in a chequerboard pattern were planted along John Fearon Walk after it was identified as a hotspot for antisocial behaviour. London Gun crime Crime Cherry Wilson guardian.co.uk
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Bundestag vote approves increase of Germany’s guarantees from €123bn to €211bn Victory for Angela Merkel in the crunch parliamentary vote on increasing the powers of the euro bailout mechanism could prove shortlived as Germany comes under increasing pressure from EU officials to deliver fresh proposals to give the rescue fund a supercharged boost. German public opinion is firmly against any “leveraging” of the European Financial Stability Facility and both Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, and Philipp Rösler, the economics minister, set their stalls out against any such extension as the Bundestag voted 523 to 85 to increase the EFSF’s available funds to €440bn (£382bn). The vote approves the increase of Germany’s guarantees from €123bn to €211bn. Schäuble said any further increase, mooted after last weekend’s IMF meeting in Washington, was “out of the question”. Behind the scenes, however, officials are discussing at least three options for leveraging the fund to help head off the threat of potentially catastrophic defaults across the eurozone and these talks are expected to accelerate now that Germany has approved the 21 July decision to give the EFSF enhanced powers. “The only player that matters is Germany – despite what Sarkozy says. We can now get on with these discussions since Berlin knows they must take place no matter what ministers say in public,” one senior source said. Analysts cautioned, however, that it would be unrealistic to expect a fully fledged scheme to be in place in time for the G20 summit in Cannes in early November, let alone the next EU summit in mid-October. There remains deep anxiety that the greater urgency to resolve the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis and ward off a deep recession could yet be undermined by Slovakia, the last of the 17 countries to vote on the changes to the EFSF. Iveta Radicˇová, the country’s premier, is said to need substantial opposition support to secure a majority for enhancing the EFSF. She wants a mandate before the 17-18 October EU summit but has warned Brussels a vote may not be possible until a week later. The immediate threat of a Greek default is thought to be over, with Athens expected to get the sixth instalment of the first bailout package or €8bn by the end of October. But private bondholders – mostly large European banks – are already spooked by talk within Berlin about a 40%-50% “haircut” in the event of a default rather than the voluntary 21% agreed in July. The discussions about “leveraging” are so sensitive, especially given market volatility, that none of the ideas has so far been formally been circulated. “We’re talking about non-papers so far,” an official said. But the three options are said to focus on turning the EFSF either into a bank, or an insurance scheme, or giving it the powers to borrow funds from the European Central Bank or private investors to buy eurozone government bonds. The options are said to be so technically fraught that even senior officials are struggling to master the ideas, while they are also certain to unleash political conflicts. Schäuble remains enraged by the suggestion of Tim Geithner, the US treasury secretary, that the EFSF be “leveraged” up to €2tn. But one Brussels official, referring to Geithner’s guest appearance at an informal Ecofin meeting this month in Poland, said: “Pity Geithner can’t come to all the meetings of eurozone finance ministers.” The Bundestag vote gave an immediate boost to chancellor Merkel, asserting her authority by winning without needing to rely on opposition support. A majority of her coalition MPs – 315, or four more than her nominal majority – backed the EFSF boost with the number of suspected dissidents falling to just 13 after days of arm-twisting. Eighty-five voted against the motion, including 10 from Merkel’s own Christian Democratic bloc and three from the Free Democratic party (FDP), the chancellor’s coalition partners. Most of the “no” voters belonged to the far-left Linke party, who believe the bailout fund will make banks richer and ordinary Europeans poorer. Just a month ago, test votes suggested up to 25 coalition MPs were planning to rebel after polls showed three-quarters of Germans opposed the bill. Had Merkel failed to pass the vote without relying on support from opposition MPs from the Social Democratic (SPD) and Green parties, many analysts believed the coalition would have collapsed. “This shows the clear determination of the coalition on this issue,” Rainer Brüderle, parliamentary leader of Merkel’s junior partner, the FDP, told a broadcaster after the vote. “We have made an important decision for Europe.” Yet Frank Schäffler, also of the Free Democrats, argued that bailout measures had worsened Greece’s economic situation. “Despite all arguments, the first bailout did not make the situation for Greece better, but worse,” Schäffler said. “Expanding the fund will make the situation even worse.” Although a European commission spokesman issued a bland statement welcoming the Bundestag vote – “Once ratified by the remaining member states, we will have a stronger and more versatile tool at our disposal to ensure financial stability in the euro area” – officials were privately delighted that it signalled Germany’s re-commitment to the single currency. Officials close to José Manuel Barroso, the EC president, signalled that he intends to press ahead with his proposals for eurobonds – including those which would require significant changes to the EU treaty. Such changes would require up to four years to be agreed upon and implemented after an intergovernmental conference. So the talks about a “new” enhanced EFSF are said to take on an added urgency. Barroso’s aides also confirmed that he wants the EFSF’s planned, permanent successor, the European Stability Mechanism, to be in place far earlier than the proposed July 2013 – even as early as mid-2012. This would also require speedy ratification by the eurozone’s 17 national parliaments. European debt crisis Angela Merkel European banks Europe Greece Germany Nicolas Sarkozy European commission Helen Pidd David Gow guardian.co.uk
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