Struggling wine retailer becomes victim of triple threat of credit crunch, supermarkets and tax collectors Oddbins looks likely to become the retail sector’s latest victim after the struggling wine retailer caved in to the combined forces of the credit crunch, supermarkets and tax collectors, and went into administration. All 400 jobs at the 128-strong chain are at risk, although the company said it remained optimistic that some could be saved. Simon Baile, the managing director who took control of the firm in 2008, said: “We very much regret the need to make so many staff redundant and we are working diligently to find a buyer for the majority of the business so that as many jobs as possible may be saved.” Oddbins, which started life in 1963 and was once celebrated for its expertise and eccentric staff, was forced to give up the fight after HM Revenue & Customs – a key creditor, to which the chain owes about £8m in taxes and duties – opposed a rescue plan which the firm believed was essential to its survival. It is now likely to be wound up and sold off in chunks, with the cash raised going to owners and creditors. Despite its feted past, Oddbins was loss-making for most of this century, squeezed by the might of the supermarkets which now account for 70% of UK wine sales and can deliver sancerres and shirazes to the door along with the weekly groceries. Former competitors such as Unwins, Wine Cellar and First Quench Retailing – owner of Threshers, Wine Rack and The Local – have already gone. Only Majestic Wine has thrived, carving out a successful upmarket niche that occupies similar ground to Oddbins in its heyday. Following a difficult Christmas and with the retail environment showing signs of getting even tougher, Oddbins was unable to secure sufficient backing for a rescue plan that would have seen landlords agree to a 30% cut in rents, and payment in monthly rather than quarterly instalments. The deal equated to a payment to landlords of about 21p in the pound. An Oddbins spokesman said Baile reported that “a number of potential investors have come forward to buy the business, or parts of it, as a going concern and although nothing is certain he remains optimistic”. The news came amid another grim day for the sector, which has seen shoppers retrench in the face of rising prices, higher VAT and the uncertainty created by government cuts. Mothercare and Laura Ashley both warned that trading had deteriorated considerably in recent weeks while Easy Living Furniture, a 20-strong chain in the south of England, also went into administration. H&M, the Swedish fashion chain with a large presence in the UK, announced a surprise 30% dip in its profits in the three months to February, as it suffered from the widespread decline in consumer spending. The prospect of any recovery on the high street was further dented as the Bank of England reported that the number of people defaulting on their mortgages rose unexpectedly in the first three months of the year. Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said: “Consumer confidence remains extremely weak, thereby maintaining concern that consumers will be very cautious in their spending over the coming months in the face of serious headwinds. “Consumers’ purchasing power is currently being increasingly squeezed by high and rising inflation in tandem with ongoing muted wage growth overall. In addition, the weak housing market has adverse repercussions for consumer spending,” he added. The developments continued the bad news in what has been one of the gloomiest weeks for retail announcements in years, causing the spotlight to shine even brighter on the government’s public spending cuts. It emerged on Tuesday that Britons’ spending power fell last year for the first time in three decades. So-called real household disposable income – the total income of Britain’s working and unemployed populations after taxes and adjusted for inflation – dropped by 0.8% in 2010, according to the Office for National Statistics. On Wednesday, the boss of electricals group Dixons said that the government’s cuts were having a “chilling effect” on consumers as the group announced that like-for-like sales at its Currys and PC World stores in Britain and Ireland tumbled by 11% in the last 11 weeks. Signet announced weak trading at its H Samuel and Ernest Jones stores in the UK. DFS, the sofa retailer, said growth had slowed and even Domino’s Pizza, the stock market darling, was forced to admit that it was being dragged down by its Irish stores where like-for-like sales dropped more than 10% in the first quarter. Retail industry Dixons Retail Mothercare Laura Ashley Wine Tom Bawden Fiona Beckett guardian.co.uk
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Irish finance minister Michael Noonan said country had been left with an ‘appalling legacy’ as a result of the banking crisis Europe’s debt crisis deepened on Thursday night as Ireland was forced into another €24bn (£21bn) rescue of its banking system and jittery financial markets pushed Portugal closer to a bailout. In a furious attack on the previous government, the Irish finance minister Michael Noonan said the country had been left with “an appalling legacy: a legacy of debt, of unemployment, of emigration, of falling living standards and of low morale” as a result of the banking crisis. After stress tests to assess the vulnerability of the banks to a drastic worsening of the economy, Noonan announced that the government would take a majority stake in all the major lenders. These are to be radically reduced in size and focused on just two players. Ireland’s banks have been crippled by the bursting of a house price and commercial property bubble, created when they took advantage of the country’s membership of the single currency to lend recklessly on low interest rates. The collapse caused an economic crisis that has seen output shrink for three years in a row. “We are now in the third year of the banking crisis. The previous government failed to act. They ducked and dived and procrastinated as they lurched from one crisis to the next. They went through periods of denial and periods of self justification. They paved the road to disaster with good intentions,” Noonan said. “They never fixed the broken banks, however.” Ireland’s central bank governor, Patrick Honohan, said the country was saddled with “one of the costliest banking crises in history”. The total bill has now reached €70bn – equal to €17,000 for each citizen. Analysts said that while Ireland’s latest bank bailout had provided the country with breathing space, time was running out for Portugal, where the government admitted that it would miss its target for deficit reduction in 2010 and revised up its budget deficit figure from 7% of GDP to 8.6%. The poor figures triggered a fresh sell-off of Portuguese bonds and analysts said it would now be cheaper for the country to borrow from the International Monetary Fund and EU, as Ireland is doing, rather than access the international markets. Ireland pays 6% interest on its seven-year loans while bond investors want to charge Portugal 9% to borrow for just five years. As a result of the Irish and Greek bailouts, EU partners have now set up the European financial stability facility (EFSF) as a long-term provider of funds for troubled members of the eurozone. “The key question is when will Portugal need to access the EFSF because it has run out of money. Portugal faces two bond redemptions, one on 15 April (€4.3bn) and one on 15 June (€4.9bn). This week, a government official said that Portugal had sufficient reserves to cover both of these. It is hard to see how this can be the case,” said Emilie Gay from the research consultants Capital Economics. However, Portugal’s finance minister, Teixeira dos Santos, said: “The government is not irresponsible and will guarantee that there is the necessary financing so the country can live up to its responsibilities and honour commitments to its creditors.” Lisbon said the change in its deficit figures was the result of an accounting change demanded by Europe’s statistics agency but bond markets feared it was an effort to deceive investors about the true picture in the past. An auction of €1.5bn of bonds has been scheduled for Friday and will be a test for the market. As a result of the announcement in Dublin, all the Irish banks are now likely to be state-owned. Two new universal banks are expected to be created from existing institutions – Bank of Ireland will remain while Allied Irish Banks and building society EBS are to be merged. “We will also ensure that they are fully recapitalised so that the world looks at these core banks with confidence and they in turn help instil confidence in our economy,” said Noonan. The extra bailout cash is within the funding from the EU/IMF support announced last year. Noonan blamed the crisis on the decision made in September 2008 by the former Fianna Fáil government to guarantee the banking sector, and particularly Anglo Irish Bank, during the international banking crisis. Ireland Ireland bailout European debt crisis Euro Currencies Europe Larry Elliott Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Irish finance minister Michael Noonan said country had been left with an ‘appalling legacy’ as a result of the banking crisis Europe’s debt crisis deepened on Thursday night as Ireland was forced into another €24bn (£21bn) rescue of its banking system and jittery financial markets pushed Portugal closer to a bailout. In a furious attack on the previous government, the Irish finance minister Michael Noonan said the country had been left with “an appalling legacy: a legacy of debt, of unemployment, of emigration, of falling living standards and of low morale” as a result of the banking crisis. After stress tests to assess the vulnerability of the banks to a drastic worsening of the economy, Noonan announced that the government would take a majority stake in all the major lenders. These are to be radically reduced in size and focused on just two players. Ireland’s banks have been crippled by the bursting of a house price and commercial property bubble, created when they took advantage of the country’s membership of the single currency to lend recklessly on low interest rates. The collapse caused an economic crisis that has seen output shrink for three years in a row. “We are now in the third year of the banking crisis. The previous government failed to act. They ducked and dived and procrastinated as they lurched from one crisis to the next. They went through periods of denial and periods of self justification. They paved the road to disaster with good intentions,” Noonan said. “They never fixed the broken banks, however.” Ireland’s central bank governor, Patrick Honohan, said the country was saddled with “one of the costliest banking crises in history”. The total bill has now reached €70bn – equal to €17,000 for each citizen. Analysts said that while Ireland’s latest bank bailout had provided the country with breathing space, time was running out for Portugal, where the government admitted that it would miss its target for deficit reduction in 2010 and revised up its budget deficit figure from 7% of GDP to 8.6%. The poor figures triggered a fresh sell-off of Portuguese bonds and analysts said it would now be cheaper for the country to borrow from the International Monetary Fund and EU, as Ireland is doing, rather than access the international markets. Ireland pays 6% interest on its seven-year loans while bond investors want to charge Portugal 9% to borrow for just five years. As a result of the Irish and Greek bailouts, EU partners have now set up the European financial stability facility (EFSF) as a long-term provider of funds for troubled members of the eurozone. “The key question is when will Portugal need to access the EFSF because it has run out of money. Portugal faces two bond redemptions, one on 15 April (€4.3bn) and one on 15 June (€4.9bn). This week, a government official said that Portugal had sufficient reserves to cover both of these. It is hard to see how this can be the case,” said Emilie Gay from the research consultants Capital Economics. However, Portugal’s finance minister, Teixeira dos Santos, said: “The government is not irresponsible and will guarantee that there is the necessary financing so the country can live up to its responsibilities and honour commitments to its creditors.” Lisbon said the change in its deficit figures was the result of an accounting change demanded by Europe’s statistics agency but bond markets feared it was an effort to deceive investors about the true picture in the past. An auction of €1.5bn of bonds has been scheduled for Friday and will be a test for the market. As a result of the announcement in Dublin, all the Irish banks are now likely to be state-owned. Two new universal banks are expected to be created from existing institutions – Bank of Ireland will remain while Allied Irish Banks and building society EBS are to be merged. “We will also ensure that they are fully recapitalised so that the world looks at these core banks with confidence and they in turn help instil confidence in our economy,” said Noonan. The extra bailout cash is within the funding from the EU/IMF support announced last year. Noonan blamed the crisis on the decision made in September 2008 by the former Fianna Fáil government to guarantee the banking sector, and particularly Anglo Irish Bank, during the international banking crisis. Ireland Ireland bailout European debt crisis Euro Currencies Europe Larry Elliott Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
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Exclusive: Contact with senior aide believed to be one of a number between Libyan officials and west amid signs regime may be looking for exit strategy Colonel Gaddafi’s regime has sent one of its most trusted envoys to London for confidential talks with British officials, the Guardian can reveal. Mohammed Ismail, a senior aide to Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam, visited London in recent days, British government sources familiar with the meeting have confirmed. The contacts with Ismail are believed to have been one of a number between Libyan officials and the west in the last fortnight, amid signs that the regime may be looking for an exit strategy. Disclosure of Ismail’s visit comes in the immediate aftermath of the defection to Britain of Moussa Koussa, Libya’s foreign minister and the country’s former external intelligence head, who has been Britain’s main conduit to the Gaddafi regime since the early 1990s. A team led by the British ambassador to Libya, Richard Northern, and MI6 officers, embarked on a lengthy debriefing of Koussa at a safe house after he flew into Farnborough airport on Wednesday night from Tunisia. Government sources said the questioning would take time because Koussa’s state of mind was “delicate” after he left his family in Libya. The Foreign Office declined “to provide a running commentary” on contacts with Ismail or other regime officials. But news of the meeting comes amid mounting speculation that Gaddafi’s sons, foremost among them Saif al-Islam, Saadi and Mutassim, are anxious to explore a way out of the crisis in Libya. “There has been increasing evidence recently that the sons want a way out,” said a western diplomatic source. Although he has little public profile in either Libya or internationally, Ismail is recognised by diplomats as being a key fixer and representative for Saif al-Islam. According to cables published by WikiLeaks, Ismail has represented the Libyan government in arms purchase negotiations and acted as an interlocutor on military and political issues. “The message that was delivered to him is that Gaddafi has to go and that there will be accountability for crimes committed at the international criminal court,” a Foreign Office spokesman told the Guardian , declining to elaborate on what else may have been discussed. Some aides working for Gaddafi’s sons, however, have made it clear that it may be necessary to sideline their father and explore exit strategies to prevent the country descending into anarchy. One idea that the sons have reportedly suggested – which the Guardian has been unable to corroborate – is that Gaddafi give up real power. Mutassim, presently the country’s national security adviser, would become president of an interim national unity government which would include the country’s opposition. It is an idea, however, unlikely to find support among the country’s rebels or the international community who are demanding Gaddafi’s removal. The revelation that contacts between Britain and a key Gaddafi loyalist had taken place came as David Cameron hailed the defection of Koussa as a sign the regime was crumbling. “It tells a compelling story of the desperation and the fear right at the very top of the crumbling and rotten Gaddafi regime,” he said. Ministers regard Koussa’s move to abandon his family as a sign of the magnitude of his decision. “Moussa Koussa is very worried about his family,” one source said. “But he did this because he felt it was the best way of bringing down Gaddafi.” Britain learned that Koussa wanted to defect when he made contact from Tunisia. He had made his way out of Libya in a convoy of cars after announcing that he was going on a diplomatic mission to visit the new government in Tunis. Britain took seriously reports last night that Ali al-Treki, Libya’s minister for Africa, had announced in Cairo that he too had abandoned the regime. Officials were checking reports last night that Tarek Khalid Ibrahim, the deputy head of mission in London, is also defecting. The prime minister insisted that no deal had been struck with Koussa and that he would not be offered immunity from prosecution. “Let me be clear, Moussa Koussa is not being granted immunity. There is no deal of that kind,” Cameron said. Within hours of his arrival in Britain, Scottish prosecutors asked to interview Koussa about the Lockerbie bombing. The Crown Office in Edinburgh has said it is formally asking for its prosecutors and detectives from Dumfries and Galloway police to question Koussa about the 1988 bombing. “We have notified the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that the Scottish prosecuting and investigating authorities wish to interview Mr Koussa in connection with the Lockerbie bombing,” it said. “The investigation into the Lockerbie bombing remains open and we will pursue all relevant lines of inquiry.” But government sources indicated that Britain does not believe that Koussa was involved in ordering the Lockerbie bombing. Koussa was at the heart of Britain’s rapprochement with Libya which started when Tripoli abandoned its support for the IRA in the early 1990s. He was instrumental in persuading Gaddafi to abandon his weapons of mass destruction programme in 2003. One source said: “Nobody is saying this guy was a saint because he was a key Gaddafi lieutenant who was kicked out of Britain in 1980 for making threats to kill Libyan dissidents. But this is the guy who persuaded Gaddafi to abandon his WMD programme. He no doubt has useful and interesting things to say about Lockerbie but it doesn’t seem he said ‘go and do it’.” William Hague, the foreign secretary, said he had a sense that Koussa was deeply unhappy with Gaddafi when they spoke on Friday. “One of the things I gathered between the lines in my telephone calls with him, although he of course had to read out the scripts of the regime, was that he was very distressed and dissatisfied by the situation there,” Hague said. Libya Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Muammar Gaddafi Foreign policy Peter Beaumont Nicholas Watt Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media House Speaker John Boehner fought back tears Wednesday on the House floor as he advocated for his bill to reinstate the Washington D.C. school voucher program. D.C. parents and teachers support the program, which was ended in 2009, because “they know what it was like before,” he said. “They remember living just blocks from grade schools but feeling miles away from them. And all they did was ask us to have a chance to have the same kind of education that kids down the street were getting. There’s no controversial idea here. It’s the American way.” School vouchers are certificates issued by the government that parents can apply towards tuition at a private school. Critics claim that the program weakens the public school system.
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Data from Europe’s gravity-mapping satellite Goce is being used to investigate the geological processes that cause earthquakes A European spacecraft that skims the upper reaches of the atmosphere has mapped Earth’s gravity with unrivalled precision. The map shows how the pull of gravity varies minutely over the surface of the Earth, from deep ocean trenches to majestic mountain ranges. The measurements have allowed scientists to create a computer model called a geoid that reveals what Earth would look like if its shape were altered to make gravity equal at every point on the surface. Researchers unveiled the latest data from the European Space Agency ‘s Gravity and Ocean Circulation Explorer, or Goce , at a workshop in Munich on Thursday . The map shows areas of strongest gravity in yellow and weakest in blue. Data from the five-metre-long spacecraft will be crucial for understanding sea level changes, shifts in ice flows and how ocean currents – which are driven by gravity – respond as the planet warms over the next few decades. The spacecraft circles the Earth at an altitude of 150 miles (250km) and uses an ion rocket to prevent it losing height as it flies through wisps of atmosphere. Described by project manager Andrea Allasio as “the Ferrari of space probes”, Goce maps Earth’s gravitational field by recording its exact position with GPS and detecting variations in the pull of gravity accurate to one part in ten million million. Earth’s gravity is subtly influenced by all manner of changes in the structure and topography of the Earth. The planet is not a perfect sphere, instead bulging around the equator, making gravity weaker there than at the poles. Gas fields, mineral deposits, aquifers and rock formations also affect the pull of gravity. Information from Goce is already being analysed to get a deeper understanding of the geological processes that cause earthquakes. The recent quake that brought devastation to Japan was triggered by the sudden movement of tectonic plates beneath the ocean. These dramatic movements in rock leave signatures in gravity data that could provide fresh insights into how they occur. The satellite was launched in March 2009 and has now collected more than a year’s worth of gravity data. The probe has enough fuel to fly until the end of 2012, a doubling of its intended mission life. “At its early conception, Goce was more like science fiction. Goce has now clearly demonstrated that it is a state-of-the-art mission,” said Volker Liebig, director of Esa’s Earth Observation Programmes. Geology Satellites European Space Agency Space Space technology Climate change Climate change Natural disasters and extreme weather Ian Sample guardian.co.uk
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Detectives question intended target of gang hit as five-year-old Thusha Kamaleswaran remains in critical condition Police hope the intended target of a gang hit could lead them to the teenage gunman whose botched assassination attempt led him to fire into a shop, critically wounding a five-year-old girl. Thusha Kamaleswaran was critical but stable in hospital after a bullet struck her in the chest as she visited relatives who ran the Stockwell Food and Wine shop in Lambeth, south London. Even in a borough that has suffered a high degree of teenage gang related violence, the gunning down of an innocent child has caused great shock. A reward of £50,000 has been offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction of those behind the shooting. It happened after three youths on bicycles chased two others, who fled into the shop. Shots were then fired, injuring the girl and a 35-year-old man, Roshan Selvakumar, who was shot in the face. He is recovering in hospital. One of the two youths believed to be the intended target of the teenagers on bicycles has now contacted police. A police source said: “He’s probably realised he’ll be safer with us.” Detective Chief Inspector Tony Boughton, leading the inquiry, said: “One of the youths who first ran into the shop has come forward and is assisting us with our inquiries. We are still trying to trace the other individual and appeal to him to come forward.” The youths behind the shooting are believed to have continued cycling around the area for up to 45 minutes after gunning down the innocent pair. Thusha was visiting relatives at the shop along with her mother, sister, three, and brother, 12, who were unhurt. Detectives are studying CCTV from neighbouring shops and streets to build up a picture of what happened before, during and after the shooting. In a statement, police said: “One of these youths had been chased from Broomgrove Road, across Stockwell Road, and into the shop by three other males, described as black youths, on bicycles. Once the youths on bikes were outside the shop, one of them fired shots into the shop front.” The shootings are being investigated by the Metropolitan police’s Trident unit, which specialises in tackling gun crime, particularly in London’s African-Caribbean communities. Claudia Webbe, chair of Trident independent advisory group, said: “Although incidents like this are isolated, they have a huge impact locally. This is a societal problem; once the bullet has been fired, it affects us all. The whole community is united in bringing these violent and cowardly criminals to justice.” Gail Brannan, headteacher of Fairlop primary school in Ilford, which the injured child attended, said: “Thusha is a cheerful girl who loves school and involves herself happily in everything. Our thoughts are with her and her family and we hope that she makes a full recovery soon.” Gun crime Crime London Gangs Communities Young people Vikram Dodd guardian.co.uk
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Chancellor under pressure from cabinet to abandon plans to impose a £2bn levy on the region’s oil and gas companies George Osborne, the chancellor, is under pressure from within his cabinet to back down on his unexpected plans to impose a £2bn windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas companies. Fellow ministers are frustrated that they were given no long-term warning by the Treasury of the plan in advance of the budget and that the oil companies were given no chance to be consulted. It is also being argued that the sudden change in the tax regime ran counter to a series of pledges Osborne gave to the North Sea oil industry in opposition. He told the Aberdeen Press and Journal in 2009 that one of his earliest budget commitments would be to set up a parliament-long stable tax regime for the oil industry. The Treasury minister Justine Greening went to a bruising meeting with oil companies attended by other government ministers in which she was told that the industry has lost trust in government promises to maintain a stable tax regime in the North Sea. One witness said she was “grilled alive”. At a meeting described as cold and pointed, attended by the Scottish secretary, Michael Moore, and the energy secretary, Chris Huhne, she was told she had put 40,000 jobs at risk. Greening was told by oil companies including Total and Shell that Statoil was suspending a $10bn (£6.2bn) project at the Bressay and Mariner oil fields – two of the most valuable deposits left in the North Sea – to review whether the investment is still worthwhile. The oil companies said they were responsible for a quarter of private sector capital investment in the UK, and were quite prepared to pull the plug on a large part of this investment unless the tax regime were changed. They pointed out that as reserves are slowly depleted, companies need better incentives to pump the remaining, harder-to-reach resources. There were also claims that senior cabinet ministers with a direct involvement in the industry were not informed more than 48 hours before the budget of the plan to make the tax raid on the profits of the oil industry. Late representations were made in an attempt to introduce some flexibility based on the price of oil, and ministers opposed to the rise are urging the Treasury to raise the price at which the higher tax kicks in. Supporters of the chancellor claim the principles were discussed between the Treasury chief secretary, Danny Alexander, the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, Osborne and David Cameron. Last Wednesday’s budget increased by 12 percentage points the tax levied on North Sea companies, on top of corporation tax, in order to raise £2bn a year to pay for a 1p reduction in the duty on petrol and diesel and scrap a further 5p increase due under plans agreed by the last government. The oil and gas industry’s tax bill for the next financial year is expected to be £13.4bn, compared with £8.8bn this year. In a sign of the problems developing over the issue, Alexander who represents a Scottish constituency, denied the tax raid had been his idea. “We don’t expect this tax change to have a significant effect on production and investment and therefore on jobs in the coming years,” he said. The Scottish National party has already described the oil grab as Alexander’s political epitaph, but what will worry him more is the lack of support from key cabinet allies and normally loyal Scottish Liberal Democrat MPs, such as Malcolm Bruce. Bruce accused Alexander of being “economically illiterate for coming up with a “populist move” that could kill off investment in the North Sea. George Osborne Tax and spending Oil and gas companies Energy industry Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Laurent Gbagbo faces bloody overthrow as he loses general and rebels advance on main city of Abidjan Ivory Coast’s president, Laurent Gbagbo, is facing a bloody deposition after his top general deserted and rebel forces advanced into Abidjan, his seat of power. Heavy weapons and machine-gun fire were heard in the centre of Ivory Coast’s main city. And French troops were deployed as the four-month political crisis appeared to near its endgame. Ivorian sources in South Africa said they heard rumours that Gbagbo could be about to step down, possibly turning to South Africa for a diplomatic channel to end his 10-year rule. Officials in Pretoria denied there had been any approach. The speculation was begun by the abrupt departure of Phillippe Mangou, Gbagbo’s army chief of staff, to take refuge with his wife and five children at the South African ambassador’s residence in Abidjan. “We’ve seen a regime collapse,” said one western diplomat, who could hear gunfire and explosions from his residence. “The army is no longer an effective body. It has defected and deserted, and has no leadership now the general has gone into hiding. It lacks any command and control.” He added: “There’s very little to keep Gbagbo in power and he must know it. I just hope he’s not one of those men who fight to the death, because it will be a bloodbath.” Rebels fighting to install Alassane Ouattara as president have swept hundreds of miles over three days. On Wednesday they took the official capital, Yamoussoukro, doing a victory lap in vehicles as people cheered and clapped, and the seaport, San Pedro. But aid workers estimated that the casualties ran into thousands. Ouattara is the internationally recognised winner of last November’s election. He said the rebels will “re-establish democracy and enforce the choice of the people”. There were reports of Gbagbo’s troops downing weapons and uniforms, and in some cases going to join Ouattara at the UN-protected Golf hotel. Ouattara’s prime minister, Guillaume Soro, told French radio that a government of national unity was still possible if Gbagbo stepped aside in the “coming hours”, but otherwise it would be “winner takes it all”. Officially there was defiance from Gbagbo, a Sorbonne-educated professor who in 2004 defended his inability to control rioting mobs by asking: “When the French were looking for Louis XVI to cut his head off, would it have been fair to ask him if he controlled the streets?” Members of his guard deployed near the presidential palace in the Plateau area. Analysts believe a core of 2,500 troops might be willing to fight to the end. A Gbagbo adviser, Toussaint Alain, suggested the president was prepared to make a last stand. “He will not resign in the wake of this attack,” he told the Associated Press. “He is not going to abdicate. He is not going to lay down his arms. “He will stay in power to lead the resistance to this attack against Ivory Coast organised by France, the United States and the United Nations.” Abidjan was a war zone yesterday. The streets were deserted. Foreign nationals had been advised to stock up with five days of food and water. Salvatore Sagues, of Amnesty International, warned: “Abidjan is on the brink of a human rights catastrophe and total chaos. Cote d’Ivoire is facing a major humanitarian crisis. The international community must take immediate steps to protect civilians.” Jacques Seurt, of the International Organisation for Migration in Ivory Coast, said: “You can’t go out in Abidjan. We can hear shooting outside, close to a big military camp and the state TV station. It’s not safe in this part of the city. “We are a little bit nervous. There is no way to get out to reach a safe haven. It’s too dangerous, too exposed. I think the Forces Nouvelles [pro-Ouattara rebels] are coming into Abidjan. After the capture of the town, I’m afraid there will be a lot of looting.” Reuters reported that soldiers from the 1,000-strong French Licorne force in Ivory Coast had been deployed in the south of the city. A western military source said others were sent to rescue some French nationals attacked in the Deux Plateaux neighbourhood by youth supporters of Gbagbo. Rebels in control of several northern districts of the city attacked a prison and freed the inmates, a rebel commander said. The rebels also advanced into Yopougon, a district of Abidjan that fervently supports Gbagbo, according to witnesses. Advancing on foot, the rebels set up roadblocks on one of Yopougon’s main thoroughfares and battled with police, a resident told the AP. Across town in the predominantly pro-Ouattara Adjame district, several residents reported firing by pro-Gbagbo militiamen. A close aide to Ouattara said of the rebels: “They will enter the city on multiple fronts, from multiple directions.” Overnight, the rebels also took Gbagbo’s home town, the village of Mama, where the former president had a villa, the aide told the Associated Press. “The rebels slept in Gbagbo’s bed,” he added. At least 462 people have died and up to one million have fled their homes. The true figure is likely to be much higher. Pierre Kraehenbuehl, of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told a press conference in Geneva: “Casualty numbers, killed and injured, is running into the thousands. That is our indication. “The country is now in the throes of a full-fledged internal armed conflict.” The rebels have controlled northern Ivory Coast since the 2002-03 civil war effectively split the country in two. Ivory Coast France United States United Nations David Smith guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Is Trump just trying to make the rest of the Republican field look sane and intelligent?
March 31, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media It’s obvious that Donald Trump’s recent bout of Birtherism is primarily about garnering Trump some free pub — but considering how readily they’re airing it at Fox News, it’s starting to look like a combination of Swift Boat/Clinton-scandals type of Republican tactics, where just having the smears “out there” helps keep their targets’ negatives high. It’s also obvious, after Trump’s appearance last night on Bill O’Reilly’s Fox News show, that he really isn’t a serious candidate. Instead, Trump is being a stalking horse who can make the rest of the Republican field look sane and serious by comparison. Consider this exchange : O’REILLY: Now, when you were on “The View” and they didn’t walk out, which they should have because they walked out on me and they should have stayed. You were way, way worse than I was on “The View.” You were hammering the birth certificate. Now, we very early on did an investigation about Barack Obama’s birth certificate. What “The Factor” found out was there were two announcements the week he was born in both Honolulu newspapers saying that he was born, OK. That is impossible — that is impossible to make happen if he had not been born in the hospital. So therefore, I just put it to bed. I said he was born in Honolulu. The two newspapers documented it. His mother was a hippy. His father was a guy from Kenya who split. There couldn’t have been a sophisticated — what is he, Baby Jesus? — there was a sophisticated conspiracy to smuggle this baby back into the country? So I just dismissed it. But you made a big deal of it. TRUMP: Bill, I grew up with Wall Street geniuses. What they do in terms of fraud and how they change documents and I will tell you something. If you notice those dates were three days later. Here is what I ask people. Who puts announcements? Here are two poor people, a man and a woman with no money, they have a baby. There’s announcements in the newspaper? O’REILLY: The grandparents did it. TRUMP: Excuse me. The grandparents. Nelson Rockefeller doesn’t put announcements. O’REILLY: Sure, there are birth announcements all the time. TRUMP: I have never seen one. O’REILLY: Really? They are common. TRUMP: I’ve never seen one. O’REILLY: But why is this important to you? TRUMP: Because if you are going to be president of the United States you have to be born in this country. And there is a doubt as to whether or not he was born… O’REILLY: Oh come on. Do you really feel this about him? TRUMP: You know, I started off by saying — and I always do and I did on the “The View.” I’m a very smart guy. I went to the best college. I had good marks. I was a very smart guy, good student and all that stuff. Because what they do to the birthers, which is a term I hate because a lot of these birthers are just really quality people that just want the truth. What they do to the birthers is unbelievable to a point where people are afraid to talk about this subject. They are afraid to confront you or anybody about this subject. O’REILLY: Do you think it’s an important subject? TRUMP: Listen, I have a birth certificate. I have my birth certificate. And in fact, they said the one I gave yesterday wasn’t good enough. So I actually got the one from the Health Department, which is the perfect one. Because they were saying the one I gave yesterday wasn’t good enough, so I got the other. People have birth certificates. He doesn’t have a birth certificate. He may have one but there’s something on that, maybe religion, maybe it says he is a Muslim. I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t want that. Or he may not have one. But I will tell you this. If he wasn’t born in this country, it’s one of the great scams of all time. O’REILLY: Absolutely. But I don’t think that’s the case. TRUMP: You don’t, but I’m starting to think. O’REILLY: I don’t think you believe that either. I think it’s provocative, you get a lot of attention raising the question. But I don’t think you believe it either. TRUMP: Two weeks ago I felt like probably he was born in the country. Today it’s possibly. I’m telling you it’s changed. I have seen too many things. The business with the newspaper birth announcement really reveals just how deliberately obtuse Trump is being. As we noted already : This isn’t an advertisement — rather, this is a standard newspaper birth announcement. You see, in the old days, before large corporations took over newspapers and forced them to gradually eviscerate their newsgathering functions, newspapers sent out their cops-and-courts reporters about once a week to collect all the previous week’s birth listings from local hospitals. (This practice has long since fallen by numerous newsroom-budget-cutting waysides.) In other words, the Advertiser announcement was collected by the paper itself and stands as independent corroboration that Obama was born in a Honolulu hospital. The fact that Trump doesn’t know of anyone who has their birth listed in the paper by anything other than an ad indicates how out of touch this rich man really is. O’Reilly knows this and pointed it out to Trump. Did this have any effect on the man whatsoever? None! He just kept rambling and ranting. The fact that Trump is so adamant about embracing something so thoroughly proven to be false tells you plenty about the American Right — because he has so many other right-wingers (see, e.g., Sean Hannity ) playing along as though he were making Birtherism credible. These people don’t really believe in it, but they see all kinds of tactical advantages in having someone out there flinging this poo on Obama’s wall. Why not the helmet-hair guy who’s not really running?
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