World’s longest-running children’s programme could be shown exclusively on CBBC freeing up space on BBC1 It has survived a cocaine outrage, phone-in scandal, kitten-naming debacle and an amusingly mischievous elephant. But after more than 50 years on screen, Blue Peter’s place in the BBC1 schedules is facing a new threat. The removal of children’s TV from BBC1 in the afternoon is being discussed by the cash-strapped corporation as part of its Delivering Quality First initiative, designed to save millions. The world’s longest-running children’s programme would be shown exclusively on the digital channel CBBC, which already airs Blue Peter repeats and spin-offs – freeing up space on BBC1 for adult daytime programming. “It is important to stress that this is only one of many DQF proposals and there are no immediate proposals to remove children’s content from the BBC’s terrestrial channels,” said a BBC spokeswoman. The corporation’s research has shown that the number of children who watch CBBC content exclusively on BBC1 is declining. The BBC is looking at a number of options in a bid to save £20m, including ditching overnight programmes on BBC1, or replacing the entire BBC2 daytime schedule with rolling news. Children’s TV Television Vicky Frost guardian.co.uk
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More than half of the BBC Breakfast team’s employees have rejected the move north “Salford or fuck it” was the not very subtle title of the BBC Breakfast team’s farewell party held at a candlelit wine bar near White City. Presenter Sian Williams and more than half of the 86 programme staff have decided not to make the move 180 miles north – but the BBC still says that is a victory in its contentious £200m move out of the capital. Employees have been offered relocation packages worth £45,600 (£1,900 a month over two years) but only 861 jobs of 1,500 moving north have been filled – while Breakfast, Radio 5 Live and Blue Peter will all have to battle to persuade the likes of David Cameron or Keira Knightley to appear in the studio. Of the BBC Breakfast staff, 46% are relocating – as are similar proportions of Radio 5 Live and BBC Sport teams. The BBC said these numbers were “significantly higher” than hoped. BBC executives, trying to manage expectations, had indicated that if a third of the employees agreed to go, that would be seen as a “strong result”. Some big names appear keen to at least present their shows from the north-west, such as 5 Live presenters Nicky Campbell and Richard Bacon, but others less so. Gary Lineker, whose current contract with the BBC expires after the Olympics, is unenthusiastic about commuting from his west London home to present Match of the Day. And Lineker is not someone whose BBC duties are so intense that he would have to move house. Nevertheless, the BBC does not want all of its existing people to move. Former BBC chairman Lord Grade said it was “essential” that the Salford move be completed because “otherwise the BBC can’t be a national broadcaster”. He added: “It’s good news if not everybody goes up because then new people can come in. You’ll even get some vacancies at the top.” However, some BBC Breakfast employees are dissatisfied about how the transfer is being handled. Breakfast was a late inclusion in the Salford plan because the BBC had to send extra posts north to meet the requirements of a seven-figure grant from the Northwest Regional Development Agency . The most repeated criticism at an organisation where “most people don’t see the point or expense of the move” is – in the words of one veteran journalist – that the man in charge, BBC North director Peter Salmon, is only renting a house and not moving his family. Nor is Five Live controller Adrian Van Klaveren initially relocating to Salford full-time. One source at BBC Breakfast said there are still reservations about the move: “There is much cynicism over an email from Peter Salmon welcoming Breakfast to ‘this exciting opportunity’ considering he is not initially moving his family.” Yet anyone visiting the new Media–City UK complex where BBC North will be based – it leases the site from commercial company Peel Holdings – would struggle not to be impressed. The light and airy modern buildings overlooking a piazza and Salford Quays are a world away from the much-loved but increasingly decrepit Television Centre. With the Lowry Centre and Old Trafford stadium a stone’s throw away, plus ITV’s new Coronation Street set soon to be built, the area possesses a creative buzz. Meanwhile, the BBC can claim no shortage of interest. A website advertising new jobs has so far had 50,000 individual registrations as people chase work in a region hit hard by public sector cuts. But times may be tough for the hundreds refusing to head north in the hope there will be jobs in London – at a time when the BBC is contracting. For those remaining in the capital as their departments move north, there will be much competition in the BBC’s “internal market” for a diminishing number of roles. However, the north-west offers ex-London dwellers far more for their money. This year, in-house BBC magazine Ariel ran a for-sale ad for Cotes Hall, a grade II listed Georgian house an hour from Salford and on sale for £1.15m – including 1.8 hectares and a helipad. It would be hard to imagine finding a helipad alone for a similar price in London. BBC Salford move BBC Tara Conlan Dan Sabbagh guardian.co.uk
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• Record-breaking schedule to gross at least £20m • Comedian takes first 58 shows to 12 biggest arenas Robert Newman and David Baddiel’s pioneering one-off Wembley Arena show in 1993 prompted declarations that comedy was the new rock’n’roll. Eighteen years on, Michael McIntyre is due to play several dozen similar sized gigs, making a strong challenge for the title of the UK scene’s most bankable act. Comedy has never been bigger, with big venues describing it as their fastest growing moneyspinner. Tickets have just gone on sale for McIntyre’s new arena tour – almost 18 months in advance – which could end up being the UK’s biggest and most lucrative. An initial 58 dates have been scheduled at 12 of the UK and Ireland’s biggest venues. If they sell out – and some arenas already report few tickets remaining – McIntyre will perform his winning, defiantly old-fashioned brand of observational humour to about 600,000 people, grossing somewhere north of £20m. It is not as yet officially the biggest ever such tour. Peter Kay is currently resuming a set of dates spread over two years which will see him reach around 750,000 fans, while Lee Evans begins a 66-date stint in August. However, as McIntyre’s initial dates sell out spare nights on his 108-day schedule will inevitably be filled. “It’s certainly one of the biggest UK comedy tours ever announced, and probably the biggest tour announced in one go,” said a spokeswoman for McIntyre, who has also sold 2.5m DVDs. “It is likely there will be a number of extra shows as we go on.” There are two key questions here. The first – how did McIntyre become so popular? – is the slightly more subjective, though his eager, family-friendly style, honed during a decade toiling in the lower echelons of his trade, and TV ubiquity via the likes of his eponymous Comedy Roadshow and Britain’s Got Talent, clearly play a large part. Perhaps more mysterious is tracing the evolution of comedy’s trend away from sweaty clubs to provincial theatres and eventually into aircraft hangar-sized venues. The promoter Mick Perrin organised the UK’s first comedy arena tour, as distinct from Newman and Baddiel’s one off date. He recalls trying to book Eddie Izzard’s 2003 Sexie show: “I’d call up the venues and they’d laugh down the phone – they’d say, ‘You’re not serious.’ No one had tried it before, but Eddie wanted to push the boundaries.” A big factor, he says, has been the new technology of high definition video screens and digital sound: “If you’re going to play an arena you need to be sure that the experience at the back is as good as at the front. It doesn’t come cheap – on Eddie’s tour we had six full trucks and a crew of 45, just for one person.” Another key point, he adds, is that some arena tours are not quite what they seem. “If you use the full venue you might have a crowd of 11,000, but lots of times it might just be a bit sectioned off, maybe 3,500. It sounds good for some comedians to say they’re doing an arena tour, but in fact they’re not playing to many more people than in a large theatre.” What is certain is that it has become just as big a business for venues as well as comics. Phil Mead, head of arenas for the NEC Group, who’s NIA venue in Birmingham is hosting McIntyre for six nights next year, says comedy is the fastest growing part of the business. “Just five years ago comedians accounted for less than 100,000 arena visitors nationwide – now it’s in excess of 1m and shows no sign of fading in popularity.” Glasgow’s SECC saw 15,000 tickets for Kay’s December 2009 stint at the arena sell out within hours, and says McIntyre’s even bigger allocation – five nights in the 9,200-seater main hall – is doing equally well. “It’s certainly a buoyant market,” said Kirsten McAlonan from the venue. “In October alone we’ve got four different comedians. Maybe it’s because it’s a recession and people need a laugh. They’re certainly still willing to spend money on it.” Perrin has a final reason for the move to arenas: today’s super successful brand of comics have the sheer self-belief to firstly believe they can sell enough tickets and then perform in front of such a throng: “I’ve stood on the edge of the stage as they go on and the scale is frightening. But these guys have got egos as big as any rock musician, they can do it. They like the scale – it’s great for them to see that Bon Jovi has just done one date when they’re doing three or four.” Crowd pleasers • Rob Newman and David Baddiel are generally credited with performing the first UK comedy arena date, ending the 1993 live tour of their Newman and Baddiel in Pieces TV show in front of 12,000 people at Wembley Arena. • It took a decade for this to be matched, as Eddie Izzard took his 2003 Sexie tour round a series of arenas. • Lee Evans is credited with a series of comedy scale-of-performance firsts, setting a then world audience record for a solo act in 2005 in front of more than 10,000 people at Manchester’s MEN Arena. His subsequent Big arena tour also became a record-breaker. • With McIntyre and Evans, the third – and arguably biggest – UK comedy behemoth is Peter Kay. His current tour, which kicked off with 20 dates at the MEN Arena and will end with 19 more at the same venue, will net a reported £35m. Michael McIntyre Comedy Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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Socialist prime minister defends deficit reduction programme as unemployment rate remains at 20% Spain’s beleaguered economy is out of the woods and will not need a Greek or Irish-style bailout despite the risk of contagion from troubled neighbour Portugal, according to its Socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. In an exclusive interview with the partner publications from the Guardian’s New Europe project, the continent’s most powerful leftwing prime minister insisted that reforms and an austerity programme designed to reverse a runaway deficit were bearing fruit. He refused to be drawn on his own plans, amid rumours that he will announce tomorrow that he will not stand for a third term at elections due early next year. His Socialist party currently trails the opposition conservative People’s party by 16 points in opinion polls. The comments, from a prime minister whom Spaniards describe as “anthropologically optimistic”, came as market pressure on the country’s sovereign debt showed signs of relaxing, despite growing problems in both Portugal and Ireland. “We now have economic growth. The debt risk has stabilised and is out of danger. And now we are close to creating jobs,” Zapatero said. Zapatero sees no conflict between being a deficit warrior and a socialist, but points to key differences between his cuts package and that of Britain’s coalition government. “There is a deep, deep difference between what our government has done on education during the crisis and what Cameron’s government has done,” he said, pointing to education spending that has risen to 15% of Spain’s GDP for the first time. “The fundamental difference between right and left is the capacity to redistribute spending and remove obstacles to equal opportunities,” he insisted. “We haven’t reduced spending on health. We’ve increased spending on unemployment. We’ve maintained spending on social care of the dependent. Why do we do it? To maintain social cohesion.” Instead Spain’s government had brought down its deficit by, among other things, cutting civil service pay and freezing pensions. Zapatero said that, having met last year’s deficit reduction target, Spain would also hit this year’s 6% goal. “Our priority measure is the strict meeting of the deficit target,” he said. Although he claimed jobs would be created soon, the timid growth that some critics blame precisely on spending cuts has had no impact on a startling 20% unemployment rate. “My main anguish is about those people who lose benefit payments but have trouble finding work,” he said. Reforms in the pipeline should bring more flexible collective bargaining, improved competitiveness and a law to limit deficit spending, he said. “It’s true that some reforms mean cuts, but others are simply changes,” he said. “No project can call itself leftwing unless it commits to a competitive economy … we are going to renew Spain’s economic structure.” He warned Portugal that if it wanted to escape a bailout it had no option but to adopt the austerity package that its parliament rejected last week, bringing down José Sócrates’ Socialist government and triggering a June election. “Carrying out the Sócrates austerity plan presented to parliament is fundamental,” Zapatero said. His comments came even before Portugal admitted that its 2010 deficit was €3bn (£2.6bn) higher than originally estimated. Zapatero, speaking before Ireland revealed that it needed a further €24bn to deal with its banks, said he favoured more aid to Greece and Ireland. “We should be ready to increase the aid if they need it,” he said. Like most Spanish politicians, he is an avowed pro-European and saw greater economic integration within the EU as an unexpected but welcome side-effect of the crisis. “Economic integration is being speeded up. That much is clear,” he said. “Integration in politics and security is going more slowly, but it will come. It may take five or 10 years, but the process is inevitable.” He admits that, like everyone else, he would have liked Europe to react faster to the economic crisis. “But it is obvious that, amongst democratic countries, there is something called a decision-making process,” he said. “The Spanish government is lucky because parliament is always very pro-European … but there are other parliaments in Europe that debate every last cent.” Even the Libya crisis was an example of Europe in action, he said. “Who brought a historic resolution to the [UN] security council to intervene in Libya? Two European countries: France and Britain,” he said. “It is Europe that has taken the lead.” The man who pulled Spain’s troops out of Iraq when first elected in 2004 said the UN resolution was a historic step for human rights. “It is the first time we have had a resolution based on a responsibility to protect people,” he said. “A huge amount of care and restraint is being exercised,” he said of the campaign. “We have not had that thing that is so heartrending – and which discredits these operations – which is civilian victims.” But Zapatero, who has sent aircraft and warships to join the Libya campaign, insisted that military means should not be used to oust Gadaffi. “The use of arms is for protecting the population,” he said. “For regime change we have our political and economic strength.” Europe’s task did not end, there, he insisted. “The north of Africa and the Mediterranean as a whole are going to look towards the north. They will look to Europe, and Europe must not look away.” Wind power became Spain’s biggest energy source for the first time in March, but events in Japan have not changed Zapatero’s policy of using nuclear energy, while refusing to build extra capacity. “When nuclear power stations come to the end of their lifespan they will be closed,” he said. “We don’t propose building new power stations and must guarantee the production of alternative sources to cover the closure of every nuclear power station.” José Luis Zapatero Spain European Union European monetary union Europe Europe Giles Tremlett guardian.co.uk
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Surgeons tell of relief as gunshot cases fall after ‘pacification’ of Rio’s favelas before the 2016 Olympics Pushing through the emergency department’s rubber-coated swing doors, Dr Luiz Sérgio Verbicaro threw open his arms as if welcoming guests to his new home. Before him a huddle of bored-looking medics made small talk around a table in a corner of the otherwise empty department. Outside, the ambulance bay was deserted. “It is good – and abnormal,” said Verbicaro, 60, a veteran surgeon and the director of the Getúlio Vargas hospital in northern Rio de Janeiro, until recently considered the Latin American champion in gunshot wound cases. “It is a relief.” Once upon a time, the flow of bloodied and disfigured gunshot victims made the Getúlio Vargas team a global reference point in bullet wound treatment – a ghoulish case study in the devastating impact of guns; a warzone hospital, without the war. More than 3,000 cases have been admitted in the last five years, an average of 50 a month. In 2007, the most violent year on record, 767 bullet-wound victims were brought in. Last year there were 583. “It reached a point where on a 12-hour weekend shift … we’d receive an average of five gunshot victims. That was our routine,” said Verbicaro, an Air Force reservist, whose hospital is flanked by what were until recently some of South America’s most violent slums. “Often we couldn’t even leave the hospital … because of shoot-outs.” But not any more. Doctors say a fledgling government drive to “pacify” Rio’s slums – by ridding every favela of heavily armed drugs gangs by the time the city hosts the 2016 Olympics – has sent the number of gunshot patients into freefall. In the wake of a massive military operation in November, in which security forces stormed and permanently occupied two vast favelas near the hospital, the number of bullet wound admissions at Getúlio Vargas has dropped almost 50%. In February there were 29 cases of what doctors call “PAFs” – firearm perforations. In the first 11 days of March there were just four. “Compared with how things were it is fantastic: what we used to get in one week we are now getting in one month,” said Dr Maria Cristina Lopes, head of the emergency department. “Victims were arriving around the clock. It wasn’t just at night or on weekends – it was every day. Since the occupation the drop has been very noticeable.” The calm came at a price. In November, when over 1,600 members of the security forces swept into the shantytowns, clashing with traffickers, 94 gunshot victims were admitted , among them a Reuters photographer and Rosângela Barbosa Alves, a 14-year-old student who was shot in the chest in a gunfight near her home. Lopes, who watched her team fight in vain to save Alves, said she had been the last child brought in with a gunshot injury. “There’s nothing worse than seeing a child die of a stray bullet,” she said. “Children are not born to die children.” Even now the department is not a place for the faint-hearted. Victims of motorway crashes are common and horrific gunshot injuries continue to appear, albeit with less frequency. Earlier, the surgeons treated a 32-year-old man who was rushed in by highway police with multiple gunshots to the head and chest. “Liver injury. Chest drain. Jaw fracture,” listed Verbicaro, leafing through the patient’s sky-blue medical chart. “He’s OK. It must have been a pistol.” But the changes are palpable. During the Guardian’s last visit to the hospital, in 2008, 12 victims had been carried into the so-called “Red Room”, including a three-year-old boy with shrapnel wounds, a policeman with burns to his face from a hand grenade and a 21-year-old man, shot in the head and bundled through the hospital’s guarded entrance in a blood-stained duvet. This time, Verbicaro toured the hospital showing off recent improvements – a new lick of paint, a new chapel for family members, a new tomography machine. Asked what she expected from the rest of her shift, Lopes replied: “Tranquillity.” The 46-year-old paediatrician even hoped that the hospital’s calmer routine might help her quit smoking. “I’ll get there,” she said, an almost full pack lying on her desk. “As the stress levels go down so will the quantity of cigarettes.” Brazil Health Gun crime Gangs Tom Phillips guardian.co.uk
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• Hopes that US economy is on course for recovery • FTSE shrugs off blow to UK manufacturing Shares have risen to their highest level on Wall Street since June 2008 after a spurt in job creation boosted hopes that the US economy was on course for recovery. News that non-farm payrolls had expanded by 216,000 last month led to a fresh wave of buying in New York and encouraged the London market to shrug off evidence that the UK’s manufacturing sector had eased back in March. The FTSE 100 Index closed more than 101 points up on the day at 6009.92, its biggest one-day jump since early January, despite a fall in the monthly health-check of the industrial sector conducted by CIPS/Markit. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index dropped from 63.3 to 58.8, to leave it at its lowest level since October, with a sharp fall in new orders coupled with the strongest upward pressure on the price of goods leaving factory gates in the survey’s 12-year history. Marie Diron, economic adviser at Ernst & Young, said: “The sharp fall in the manufacturing PMI is worrying. Although the survey remains at relatively high levels and some correction was expected, this month’s sharp decrease raises doubts about the sustainability of the recovery in the manufacturing sector. The monthly fall is within the range of monthly ‘noise’ for this survey and we will be waiting for confirmation (or reversal) in April to draw firmer conclusions about the outlook.” In Washington, official data came in better than the markets had been expecting, leading to a 100-point jump in the Dow Jones average in early trading and speculation about when the Federal Reserve might start to raise interest rates. On the currency markets, the dollar gained against both the euro and the pound. Dealers had been forecasting a 190,000 increase in payrolls, but the figures showed that the economy created an additional 17,000 jobs in manufacturing, 18,000 in retailing, 45,000 in education and health and 37,000 in leisure and hospitality. The unemployment rate fell for a fourth month, from 8.9% to 8.8%. Paul Ashworth, US analyst with Capital Economics, said: “Conditions in the US labour market are finally starting to show signs of meaningful improvement. The only weakness was a trivial 1,000 dip in construction employment and a 15,000 decline in local government employment. Other encouraging signs in the report were the 29,000 rise in temporary employment, often a leading indicator of total employment, and the recent pick-up in average hours worked. While monthly employment gains around the 200,000 mark are obviously an improvement on what we’ve seen up until now in this recovery, job growth still isn’t strong enough to bring the unemployment rate down rapidly.” US economy US economic growth and recession Economics United States FTSE Stock markets Manufacturing data Manufacturing sector Larry Elliott guardian.co.uk
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Death toll unconfirmed after protesters storm Mazar-e-Sharif compound in response to Qur’an burning by US pastor The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has been thrown into jeopardy after protesters enraged by the burning of the Qur’an by a Christian extremist in the US stormed a UN compound in the north of the country and killed a number of foreign staff members. Afghan officials in the usually peaceful city of Mazar-e-Sharif gave varying accounts of what happened, with some UN officials saying the death toll could reach 20. Other reports said two UN staff members were beheaded by a mob that managed to break into the heavily defended compound. Equally unclear were the identities of the victims, with some claiming the UN chief in the city had been killed and others saying he was wounded but survived. One police official said four of the dead were Nepali, probably former Gurkha soldiers now working as security guards, while another three were foreign diplomats. Even if the total number of victims proves at the lower end, perhaps seven as some police sources have claimed, it will constitute the worst crisis to hit the international organisation since 2001. Under UN rules officials will have to consider pulling out staff members or shutting down operations all together. After an attack on a UN guesthouse in 2009 killed five staff members, hundreds of workers were temporarily relocated to Dubai while the organisation spent millions closing guesthouses and outfitting a base on the outskirts of Kabul. Staffan De Mistura, the overall head of all UN activities in the country, flew to Mazar to take stock of the disaster. One senior staff member said there had been “absolutely no discussion” of repositioning staff, but many UN workers feared the incident would mark yet another milestone in the gradual retreat of UN diplomats and aid workers into a world where they only see the inside of fortified compounds and armoured vehicles. The violence also represents a huge setback for the country as it sets out on an ambitious programme, which many sceptics believe is unachievable, of taking full control of its own security from foreign forces by 2014. Last week Hamid Karzai, the president, announced that the commercial hub of Mazar-e-Sharif would be one of the first areas to be transferred to Afghan control this year. Yet even in a city that has possibly the best security in the country, police were no match for the sudden outburst of violence, triggered by the activities of a fringe Christian group on the other side of the world, who burned a copy of the Qur’an in Florida on 21 March. A previous threat by the US pastor Terry Jones last year was prevented after David Petraeus, the commander of Nato troops in Afghanistan, warned that the lives of US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan would be endangered. Although the burning went ahead with Jones in attendance more than a week ago, it was only on Friday that the matter was the subject of outraged prayers around Afghanistan. Afterwards thousands of people poured out of Mazar’s Blue Mosque after a tub-thumping sermon by the presiding mullah, with one police official estimating that there were 4,000 people on the streets of the city. The head of the Blue Mosque, Atiqullah Ansari, said only a minority were responsible for the violence, claiming they were the followers of a mullah who served under the Taliban regime. “They went to the UN compound and killed the foreigners. This is what they wanted,” he said. According to people in the throng some of the demonstrators had guns which they used to attack the building. The police responded in kind, shooting live rounds into the crowd. The city’s main hospital said it had treated 20 wounded people, most with bullet wounds. Among the four dead bodies in the hospital, one appeared to be a Nepalese national. Local television pictures showed a mob attacking the guard kiosk of the UN compound, which is surrounded by 12ft-high concrete blast walls. The surviving UN staff were said to be shellshocked and bewildered at the failings of security that had allowed their compound to be overwhelmed. Across the country the UN issued a “white city” order, forcing all staff members into a state of lockdown and banning them from leaving their compounds. Afghanistan United Nations United States Jon Boone guardian.co.uk
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• Forces backing Ouattara bombard presidential palace • African Union calls on president to resign and end suffering Rebel forces in Ivory Coast have laid siege to the presidential palace as president Laurent Gbagbo made a last stand and the battle for power in Abidjan raged for a second day, with the UN mission coming under heavy fire. Forces backing presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara have overrun nearly three-quarters of Ivory Coast and looked poised to topple Gbagbo, but after entering the economic capital met with stiff resistance outside his fortified residence and office. With reports of beatings, looting and arson on the streets of Abidjan, residents barricaded inside their homes reported heavy arms fire throughout the early morning on Friday. On the peninsula where the palace is situated buildings were shaking with each explosion, witnesses said. Ouattara’s spokesman, Patrick Achi, told Reuters: “His house is under attack. That’s for sure. There is a resistance, but it’s under attack. [Gbagbo] hasn’t shown any signs of giving up. I don’t think he will see the game is up, because he really believes God will save him … Gbagbo is in his house. I’m certain. He hasn’t gone anywhere.” Ouattara ordered the borders closed to prevent Gbagbo and his allies fleeing. Ouattara’s foreign affairs minister told the Associated Press: “His inner circle is trying to run, but they won’t be able to.” Not seen in public for five days, Gbagbo has been weakened by high-level defections in the military. The regular army put up almost no opposition during a four-day offensive, including in Gbagbo’s home town, where rebels said they broke into his compound and slept in his bed. Some 50,000 soldiers, police and gendarmes have abandoned Gbagbo, according to the head of the UN mission, Choi Young-jin. “Only the Republican Guard and his special forces remain loyal, guarding the palace and residence,” he told France-Info. The chair of the commission of the African Union, Jean Ping, urged him to immediately hand power to Ouattara “in order to shorten the suffering of the Ivorians”. But a core of Gbagbo loyalists have fought to defend their shrinking territory. A spokesman, Abdon Georges Bayeto, told the BBC: “The president is not going to step down. He’s been elected for five years and we are going to put up a fight.” The heaviest clashes were at the state TV station, which went off air after Ouattara forces seized it overnight. Gbagbo’s forces said they had retaken it this morning. A senior diplomat said fighting continued. Heavy weapons fire was also heard at two military bases. Amid a sense of anarchy, the UN called on Ouattara to rein in his forces. A spokesman for the UN Commissioner for Human Rights said: “We are receiving unconfirmed but worrying reports that [pro-Ouattara forces] have been committing human rights violations.” French forces took 500 foreigners, made up of 150 French nationals plus other Europeans and also Lebanese citizens, to safety in a military camp. Thierry Burkhard, a spokesman, told Reuters: “There is a security vacuum and that has opened the way for looters to roam the streets.” There were no plans to repatriate the French nationals, he said. “There is no proof the French are specifically targeted. The looters are pillaging houses where there is something to take.” The UN said its compound came under heavy gunfire on Thursday afternoon from Gbagbo’s special forces, entrenched close to the presidential palace. The UN troops returned fire in a gun battle that lasted three hours. Zahra Abidi, a Swedish official of the UN peacekeeping mission, was killed on Thursday. A security source said she was standing on the balcony of a friend’s house while shooting was going on nearby and was hit by a bullet. Charity workers said it had become impossible for people in Abidjan to obtain medical care. Many are also out of food and water, as the markets are closed. Gbagbo lost last November’s presidential election, according to his country’s election commission and international observers, but has refused to step down. Sanctions imposed on him and his circle have failed to dislodge him. The offensive is expected to end Gbagbo’s regime within hours or days. “It’s over except for the shooting,” one diplomat said. The four-month standoff since the election has killed nearly 500 people, according to UN figures, although the real toll is probably far higher. About 1 million have fled Abidjan alone, and 122,000 more have crossed into Liberia, according to the UN. Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo Alassane Ouattara United Nations David Smith guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …• Forces backing Ouattara bombard presidential palace • African Union calls on president to resign and end suffering Rebel forces in Ivory Coast have laid siege to the presidential palace as president Laurent Gbagbo made a last stand and the battle for power in Abidjan raged for a second day, with the UN mission coming under heavy fire. Forces backing presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara have overrun nearly three-quarters of Ivory Coast and looked poised to topple Gbagbo, but after entering the economic capital met with stiff resistance outside his fortified residence and office. With reports of beatings, looting and arson on the streets of Abidjan, residents barricaded inside their homes reported heavy arms fire throughout the early morning on Friday. On the peninsula where the palace is situated buildings were shaking with each explosion, witnesses said. Ouattara’s spokesman, Patrick Achi, told Reuters: “His house is under attack. That’s for sure. There is a resistance, but it’s under attack. [Gbagbo] hasn’t shown any signs of giving up. I don’t think he will see the game is up, because he really believes God will save him … Gbagbo is in his house. I’m certain. He hasn’t gone anywhere.” Ouattara ordered the borders closed to prevent Gbagbo and his allies fleeing. Ouattara’s foreign affairs minister told the Associated Press: “His inner circle is trying to run, but they won’t be able to.” Not seen in public for five days, Gbagbo has been weakened by high-level defections in the military. The regular army put up almost no opposition during a four-day offensive, including in Gbagbo’s home town, where rebels said they broke into his compound and slept in his bed. Some 50,000 soldiers, police and gendarmes have abandoned Gbagbo, according to the head of the UN mission, Choi Young-jin. “Only the Republican Guard and his special forces remain loyal, guarding the palace and residence,” he told France-Info. The chair of the commission of the African Union, Jean Ping, urged him to immediately hand power to Ouattara “in order to shorten the suffering of the Ivorians”. But a core of Gbagbo loyalists have fought to defend their shrinking territory. A spokesman, Abdon Georges Bayeto, told the BBC: “The president is not going to step down. He’s been elected for five years and we are going to put up a fight.” The heaviest clashes were at the state TV station, which went off air after Ouattara forces seized it overnight. Gbagbo’s forces said they had retaken it this morning. A senior diplomat said fighting continued. Heavy weapons fire was also heard at two military bases. Amid a sense of anarchy, the UN called on Ouattara to rein in his forces. A spokesman for the UN Commissioner for Human Rights said: “We are receiving unconfirmed but worrying reports that [pro-Ouattara forces] have been committing human rights violations.” French forces took 500 foreigners, made up of 150 French nationals plus other Europeans and also Lebanese citizens, to safety in a military camp. Thierry Burkhard, a spokesman, told Reuters: “There is a security vacuum and that has opened the way for looters to roam the streets.” There were no plans to repatriate the French nationals, he said. “There is no proof the French are specifically targeted. The looters are pillaging houses where there is something to take.” The UN said its compound came under heavy gunfire on Thursday afternoon from Gbagbo’s special forces, entrenched close to the presidential palace. The UN troops returned fire in a gun battle that lasted three hours. Zahra Abidi, a Swedish official of the UN peacekeeping mission, was killed on Thursday. A security source said she was standing on the balcony of a friend’s house while shooting was going on nearby and was hit by a bullet. Charity workers said it had become impossible for people in Abidjan to obtain medical care. Many are also out of food and water, as the markets are closed. Gbagbo lost last November’s presidential election, according to his country’s election commission and international observers, but has refused to step down. Sanctions imposed on him and his circle have failed to dislodge him. The offensive is expected to end Gbagbo’s regime within hours or days. “It’s over except for the shooting,” one diplomat said. The four-month standoff since the election has killed nearly 500 people, according to UN figures, although the real toll is probably far higher. About 1 million have fled Abidjan alone, and 122,000 more have crossed into Liberia, according to the UN. Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo Alassane Ouattara United Nations David Smith guardian.co.uk
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Soaring number of sanctions against unemployed amid claims that DWP staff are being told to trip people up with paperwork Rising numbers of vulnerable jobseekers are being tricked into losing benefits amid growing pressure to meet welfare targets, a Jobcentre Plus adviser has told the Guardian. A whistleblower said staff at his jobcentre were given targets of three people a week to refer for sanctions, where benefits are removed for up to six months. He said it was part of a “culture change” since last summer that had led to competition between advisers, teams and regional offices. “Suddenly you’re not helping somebody into sustainable employment, which is what you’re employed to do,” he said. “You’re looking for ways to trick your customers into ‘not looking for work’. You come up with many ways. I’ve seen dyslexic customers given written job searches, and when they don’t produce them – what a surprise – they’re sanctioned. The only target that anyone seems to care about is stopping people’s money. “‘Saving the public purse’ is the catchphrase that is used in our office … It is drummed home all the time – you’re saving the public purse. Feel good about stopping someone’s money, you’ve just saved your own pocket. Its a joke.” The claims came as the big businesses handed contracts to get the long term jobless into worktoday said the government should privatise jobcentres so that their firms could work with people who have been jobless for less than a year. Statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show the total number of cases where people have lost their benefits has soared since the beginning of 2010 to 75,000 in October, the latest month available. The figures also reveal the number of claimants with registered disabilities being cut off has more than doubled to almost 20,000 over the same period. This follows a change in the rules in April last year where sanctions were extended to claimants who were late for jobcentre interviews and other less serious offences. When a claimant is sanctioned their jobseeker’s allowance is stopped. They then have to apply for hardship payments, which are usually about half the allowance, or just over £30 a week. John, in Wigan, has been sanctioned for six months and says he has to rely on food parcels and must sleep on his friend’s couch. “It’s left me in a state of depression. I’ve lost weight, I’m tired … I feel like I’ve been attacked for no reason.” The whistleblower blamed the targets. “We were told suddenly that [finding someone to sanction] once a week wasn’t good enough, we were far behind other offices, and we went to a meeting where they compared us with other offices, and said we now have to do three a week to catch up. Most staff go into work and they’re thinking about it from moment one – who am I going to stop this week?” The DWP denies there are specific targets, but the Guardian has seen email evidence of referral targets in one office, and the issue of targets has been raised by employees on online forums. The DWP said: “To say that we are targeting vulnerable people is ridiculous. We only sanction people if they do not adhere to their agreement. We are massively expanding the help and support that jobseekers will receive to ensure that they get the right help and support to get into work. If someone is incapable of work, they will continue to receive unconditional support.” But the whistleblower said the policy hit the vulnerable instead of hardcore benefit cheats, who he said were a small group. “The young often fall into it, because they haven’t been there long enough, they are generally a major target. The uneducated are another major target. I’ve seen people with … seriously low educational standards and it’s easy to exploit them.” He said staff had different ways to ensure they could stop benefits for a set amount of people. “So, for example, if you want someone to diversify – they’re an electrician or a plumber, they may not want to go into call centres or something. What you do is keep promoting such and such a job, and you pressure them into taking it off you, the piece of paper. Then in two weeks you look at the system, you ask them if they applied for it … they say no – you stop their money for six months. “You very rarely see the hardcore taken because they know the forms – they know it better than the staff, the system.” Shirley Cramer of the charity Dyslexia Action warned that the true impact on people with learning difficulties was likely to be higher because in many cases it was a hidden disability. “Because we know there are large numbers of them, and that they are hidden, and that they are over-represented in disadvantaged groups, they are very much at risk. And we know that with a bit of help they can be terrific employees.” Martin John, national officer for the Public and Commercial Services Union, said ministers had demanded a tougher approach since the general election. “We are against the use of targets for labour market sanctions, and are worried about the financial impact on people.” Citizens Advice has reported a significant rise in clients who have had their benefits cut. Andy Robertson, a caseworker in South Tyneside, an area with 13% unemployment, has a huge pile of paperwork for appeals, and says his casework has more than doubled in the last year. “What’s happening at the moment is possibly the worst thing I’ve ever seen with regard to practice from the DWP. Clients seem to be getting sanctioned for next to nothing,” he said. Robertson worked for eight years as an adviser and financial assessor at jobcentres. He has also seen the changes affect many vulnerable clients, such as those with dyslexia or mental health problems. “Advisers were previously exercising their discretion … now the client-adviser balance doesn’t seem to exist any more.” Yvonne Fovargue, the Labour MP for Makerfield, raised the issue of sanctioning in parliament during a reading of the new Welfare Reform Act. She is worried that at a time when funding to support groups such as Citizens Advice is being cut, an even stricter regime is being introduced. Fovargue said the situation would only get worse with the drive to bring people off incapacity benefit and on to the jobseeker’s allowance, where they are suddenly exposed to these sanctions. The whistleblower also thinks there will be an impact. “A lot of them haven’t been in work for a number of years. So I’m not expecting them to understand the system … which will make for easy sanctions. “This cannot be right that we are using a department that’s supposed to help people into work to stop them getting benefit that a lot of them are entitled to.” In Wigan, John said he first found out he had been sanctioned when the money did not appear in his account on the usual day. His jobcentre told him it was because he had missed the deadline for three jobs. He said his Jobcentre adviser said he would send application forms in the post, but they arrived too late. “It’s outrageous … to leave someone with no money for six months. It’s totally hindered my jobsearching, I spend all of my time dealing with these problems now.” The whistleblower says his office has been told there is no more money for back to work training from April. “From April, we offer no provision … nothing, no training course, nothing. The funding ends at the end of March. “[Now] your office can shine through one of two targets. You can either shine through getting people into work, but that’s really difficult. Or you can stop their money, and that’s really easy.” Case study John Robson, 53, South Shields “It never seems to go away. Every day you’re thinking: ‘I haven’t got a letter today, so obviously there isn’t a sanction going against me.’ Another day there’s a brown envelope from the DWP and you think: ‘What’s this for?’ There’s always that cloud hanging over you.” Robson was made redundant from his job as a delivery driver 13 months ago. “I was 17 when I started work so I’ve been working for 35 years. I’m not Jack the lad who’s never been in a job and is trying to con the government. I want to work, I just can’t get a job. “You try your best, and the minute you do something wrong, they’re on you like a ton of bricks.” Robson has been sanctioned three times. First he was ill and missed a jobcentre appointment. Next he was sanctioned for not applying for one job. “I was sure I had applied for it but I
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