Australian government is investigating the disappearance of Yang Hengjun, last located in south-east China Australia has asked China for information on a Chinese-born Australian writer who disappeared in the country, the government has said, amid reports he may have been detained in Beijing’s ongoing crackdown on political expression. The Sydney-based spy novelist Yang Hengjun phoned a friend on Sunday from Guangzhou airport in south-eastern China to say three men were following him, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported. He has not been heard from since. Australia’s department of foreign affairs confirmed on Tuesday that it is investigating the disappearance. Yang, 46, was an official in the Chinese foreign ministry before moving to Australia. His novel Fatal Weakness deals with espionage between China and the US and has been published on the internet in China. He also writes a blog that frequently discusses issues involving China’s government, according to Feng Chongyi, associate professor in China studies at the University of Technology in Sydney. “Yang is the most influential political blogger in China, with millions of readers,” Feng said. China’s government has in recent weeks harassed and detained dozens of activists to prevent any copying of the pro-democracy uprisings across the Middle East. China’s foreign ministry said it had no information on Yang. “I have not heard of that person,” spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news conference in Beijing on Tuesday. China Australia Blogging Digital media guardian.co.uk
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Full coverage of the inquest into the death of newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson after he was struck by police during the G20 protests in London in 2009 11.53am: In his opening remarks, the coroner told the jury their task was to find the cause of death of Tomlinson. In summary, he: • Warned the jury to avoid researching the abundance of material about his death available on the internet, as well as press reports from the inquest. • Told the jury to ignore the fact that the director of public prosecutions (DPP) chose not to bring criminal proceedings against the officer. “That was not a final decision, but a provisional decision,” he said. “He may review that decision after the inquest.” • Stated that the inquest would consider some broader issues, but would not be as wide-reaching as a public inquiry. “Nobody is on trial. No organisation is on trial. You as the jury will not decide any question of civil or criminal liability.” • Gave a summary of Tomlinson’s last 30 minutes alive. He explained how he left Monument tube station, where he had been selling the Evening Standard newspaper, shortly before 7pm. He made his way north, encountering several police cordons, before his encounter with PC Simon Harwood at Royal Exchange buildings. 11.44am: The video shown to the jury is a compilation of still pictures, CCTV footage and pictures taken from a police helicopter. It shows the newspaper seller trying to find a way through the various streets in the area, many of which were cordoned off. The helicopter footage shows police medics treating Tomlinson after he fell to the ground in Cornhill. 11.38am: In his opening remarks, the coroner summarised the events leading up to Tomlinson’s death. He told the jury that it wasn’t clear where Tomlinson was heading on the evening he died, but it’s possible he was heading home to a hostel in the Smithfield area. The jury was also told that Tomlinson suffered from alcoholism and had been drinking that day. The jury members were then shown a compilation of video footage, which has not been seen before. Later, the jury will visit the location in the City of London where Tomlinson died. 10.57am: Welcome to the first day of our coverage of the inquest into the death of Ian Tomlinson, a newspaper seller who was struck by police during the G20 protests in London in 2009. Judge Peter Thornton QC, a senior judge sitting as assistant deputy coroner, is overseeing proceedings, which in fact began yesterday with legal argument that we are unable to report. A jury of seven men and five women were sworn in at 2.15pm, after what Thornton conceded was an “unusually protracted process” due to the limited number of suitable candidates in London’s Square Mile. They were sent home while the legal debates continued. Over the next five to six weeks the jury will determine Tomlinson’s cause of death, deciding specifically whether he was unlawfully killed by police. I’ll be live-blogging, tweeting, and writing reports. You can email me in confidence at paul.lewis@guardian.co.uk or message me on Twitter . Tomlinson’s family, most of whom are in the hearing today, have been waiting almost exactly two years since the day of his death to get to this point. It has been a long road, so here is a brief recap of how we got here. Tomlinson died on 1 April 2009, the day of the G20 protests in London . He was not a protester, but was trying to pick a route home through the City of London. Many of the streets around the Bank of England had been cordoned off by police detaining activists in “kettles”, and Tomlinson found himself caught up in the crowds. He was struck by a police officer around 7.30pm on Cornhill. Police initially claimed he died of natural causes and there was no investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). That changed six days later, when the Guardian released video footage showing Tomlinson being struck from behind then pushed in the back by a member of the Met’s Territorial Support Group (TSG). Tomlinson, who had his back to the officer and his hands in his pockets, fell to the ground and was unable to break his fall. He collapsed and died shortly afterwards. In July last year, the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, announced there would be no charges laid against the officer who struck Tomlinson. Ian Tomlinson G20 Protest Police London Independent Police Complaints Commission Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk
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State-controlled banks have had a bad press, but they can play a big part in long-term and socially necessary investment The critical role played by development banks is increasingly ignored and therefore forgotten in discussions on development. In the second half of the 20th century their use was widespread in the developing world as public or joint sector banks with the explicit mandate to provide long-term credit at terms that would make long-term and risky, but socially necessary, investment financially sustainable. What exactly did these development banks do? Essentially, they were both lenders and investors, using lending to influence investment decisions and monitor the performance of borrowers, even directing long-term investment. As developing country governments started to abandon state-led industrialisation strategies and opted for more market-determined outcomes, development banks and their activities also got a bad press. They were wound down or marginalised as economies were more directed to reliance on stock and bond markets and other forms of financing long-term investment. In India, for example, the range of development banks that were oriented to different sectors were gradually “reformed” over the 1990s so that their development banking functions were diluted and they started operating as commercial banks with a more short-term and profit-making orientation. But in Brazil, development banking has retained a crucial role in the economy, essentially through the BNDES (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social), which was established in 1952 and is owned by the federal government of Brazil. Over time the government has used various measures, such as special taxes, levies on insurance and investment companies, and direction of pension fund capital, to mobilise resources for the industrial financing activities of the BNDES. Of course, all this is anathema to market liberalisers, but the surprising thing is that even when market-oriented economic reforms were introduced in the 1980s, the BNDES survived. Under former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, it even grew dramatically in strength, with assets close to $120bn at the end of 2008. This turns out to have served Brazil well, in some unexpected ways. It had a significant positive effect in helping Brazil deal with the effects of the 2008-09 financial crisis, and was responsible in no small measure for the quick turnaround in GDP growth. How did this work? In the usual pattern, the BNDES receives part of a government indirect tax on goods and services, and uses it to finance private and public enterprises. Most of this credit goes to infrastructure and long-term investment, but part of it is also directed to regional development and circulating capital for small and medium enterprises. The loans are provided at subsidised rates that partly compensate for Brazil’s excessively high interest rates. When the global financial crisis broke, commercial banks in Brazil were not so badly affected because they had relatively high prudential requirements and other forms of regulation. Even so, there was – as in many other countries – a significant credit crunch on non-financial firms. In many countries that were similarly affected, the response was to lower interest rates and ease reserve requirements for commercial banks. But this did not necessarily mean that the banks then passed on these resources to the productive sector, and so the credit crunch really hit output and employment. In Brazil, the existence and spread of the BNDES allowed for a different kind of solution: to create a penultimate lender of last resort through government loans to the bank, which in its turn lent the resources to firms. This credit facility reached 3.3% of GDP during the crisis and helped many firms to meet their needs of circulating capital in 2008-09. So the drying up of private sector loans did not affect Brazilian producers as much as it did in most other developing countries. After the worst impact of the crisis receded, this special credit facility was gradually redirected to finance investment, which accelerated from the second half of 2009. In the past two years its lending has gone up by more than 70%. Critics argue that the BNDES is hampering the development of the financial sector in Brazil. But the world should be much more cynical now about the benefits ostensibly delivered by an unregulated financial sector bent on extracting private profits, even when at the cost of development and social conditions. In fact the criticism of the BNDES could be not that it is doing too much, but that it is not doing enough, given Brazil’s low investment rate. Even so, this experience of the important countercyclical role that can be played by a government-controlled development bank is something that other countries need to take notice of. Brazil India Financial sector Jayati Ghosh guardian.co.uk
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Geoff Berg & Gary Polland Discuss Obama’s Libya Speech Democrats React to Obama’s Libya Speech.flv President Obama’s Speech on Libya Pajamas Media » Drunkblogging Obama's Libya Speech Drunkblogging Obama’s Libya Speech . A time-limited, vermouth-limited overserved kinetic martini-action cocktail operation. (Watch the president’s speech and follow-up reaction live, cocktails optional, at PJTV.) … Obama Libya Speech Fudges the Details – The Daily Beast The president’s Libya speech may have been a strong oration, but it fudged a few key elements, from why we responded to Gaddafi to whether we’re at war, says Howard Kurtz. Obama's Libya Speech : America's “Unique Role” in the World … I’ll have a longer analysis of Barack Obama’s speech about Libya later tonight. But my thumbnail take is that Obama delivered a thoughtful speech, one in the tradition of the Washington foreign policy establishment, which managed to … Barack Obama's Libya Speech – Swampland – TIME.com A White House briefing on Libya today, featuring deputy national security advisor Denis McDonough, shed little new light on the ongoing kinetic military operation in North Africa. Obama's Libya speech Obama’s Libya speech . I was struck by a singular observation that puts Obama’s soaring paean to freedom in its proper context. Sayeth Obama, “Born as we are out of a revolution by those who longed to be free, we welcome the fact that … adleyb says: Thought Obama #libya speech was an inspiring argument that managed to convince this skeptic and hopefully many others. Job well done #POTUS
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Eoin Colfer has announced that the eighth Artemis Fowl book will be the last. But don’t despair: he has a new series coming out next summer, which he’s described as “Oliver Twist meets The Matrix” Big news for fans of Eoin Colfer ‘s teenage criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl – the author has announced that the eighth book in the series will be the last. The book will be out in spring 2012 but Colfer is keeping schtum about the title and the plot at the moment. But don’t worry, Colfer fans: it may be goodbye to Artemis but it’s certainly not farewell to the Irish writer’s riproaring blend of adventure and humour. He has also announced a whole new series , and will be delving into timeslip trickery for thrills and spills this time round. Called WARP – an acronym for Witness Anonymous Relocation Program, used by the FBI to hide important witnesses in the past – the new series will feature a Victorian boy called Riley who goes on the run in 21st-century London pursued by a ruthless assassin from his own time and aided by a young FBI agent. Colfer has described it as “Oliver Twist meets The Matrix” and the first book in the series is due to be published in the summer of 2012. Don’t forget – members of the Guardian children’s books site have the opportunity to meet and interview Eoin Colfer at the Guardian next week – check your latest newsletter for details, email us at childrens.books@guardian.co.uk for a reminder if you’ve missed it or check out the Get Involved page if you want to join to find out more. Children’s books: 8-12 years Children and teenagers Eoin Colfer guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Only direct elections can rejuvenate the Palestinian liberation movement by taking power from the few back to the many After another week of breathtaking demonstrations from Jordan to Yemen heralding dramatic revolutionary change, in occupied Palestine things appear much the same. The repetitions of bombing, air attacks on civilians , muted international protests, and dubious gestures towards a bankrupted peace process: all lend an air of futility and hopelessness to the trajectory of Palestinian freedom. Palestinians urgently need their voice to be represented at this historical moment in which unrepresentative rulers are being toppled by popular movements, and citizens are reclaiming their public squares and political institutions on the age-old principle of popular sovereignty. Since January Palestinians in the refugee camps and under military occupation have all been asking the same question: is this not our moment too? Yet how are we to overcome the entrenched system of external colonial control and co-optation, the repression, the internal divisions and the geographical fragmentation that have until now kept us divided and unable to unify? The situation appears a thousand times more complex than Bahrain, or Egypt, or Libya, or Syria. The solution to this fierce dilemma lies in a single claim now uniting all Palestinians: the quest for national unity. Although the main parties might remain irreconciled, the Palestinian people most certainly are not. Their division is not political but geographic: the majority are refugees outside Palestine, while the rest inside it are forcibly separated into three distinct locations. The demand is the same universal claim to democratic representation that citizens across the Arab world are calling for with such force and beauty: each Palestinian voice counts. The campaign is for direct elections to the Palestinian National Council (PNC), the national parliament in exile. It is the institutional body that gives both legitimacy and a mandate to the PLO, which is still recognised internationally as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. The PLO signed the Oslo accords that created the (supposedly temporary) interim Palestinian Authority in 1994, and the Palestinian Legislative Council in 1996. The authority was to form the institutions of an independent Palestinian state within five years; 16 years later it has yet to achieve any one of the basic liberties Palestinians urgently require, reflecting instead an institutionalised division between the West Bank and Gaza – and, crucially, between Palestinians inside occupied Palestine and the majority of refugees outside it, who were disenfranchised by its creation. The PNC, as the parliament of the PLO itself, was once the heart of the Palestinian national movement; made up of the resistance parties, unions and independents, it could claim the legitimacy of a national liberation movement. But there have not been proper elections to it for decades: most of the seats are quotas, reserved for the factions; members have died of old age; there is not even a definitive list showing who the current members are. Those on the West Bank and Gaza legislative council are the only directly elected members of the PNC. No one understands how the legislature should now function: everyone agrees it doesn’t. This crumbling hollowed-out mausoleum once housed a vibrant and well directed Palestinian struggle for freedom, full of dynamism and debate. Now only the mobilising power of direct elections can make it the representative institution Palestinians demand. The call for PNC elections unifies every Palestinian because it rises above faction, ideology and political orientation. It is also the single revolutionary principle that can overturn Palestinians’ current political imprisonment, because it reassures them that each voice contributes to determining national platforms, policies and strategies. Organising around this demand takes the decision-making out of the hands of the few and puts it back into the hands of the people themselves – Islamist and secular, one-state or two-state supporters, conservative or radical. And the one thing Palestinians certainly need is all these sectors working together in this moment: no one can lead except the people themselves. It is also by now very clear that nothing else will work: democratic representation cannot be achieved by new presidential elections to the Palestinian Authority; nor can it be secured through fresh legislative council elections held only in the West Bank and Gaza, which excludes the voice of the majority of Palestinians. It cannot be brought about by the transfer of power to a provisional salvation front made up of individuals; it cannot even be achieved through the much needed Fatah-Hamas reconciliation, with the intention of re-activating the PLO on the basis of dividing the seats of the PNC between the two parties. Indeed, many such measures are designed to keep power out of the hands of the Palestinian people themselves, and they continue to disenfranchise millions of young Palestinians (most of whom don’t belong to either party), who have never had the chance to vote in their lives, but live days full of struggle and peril in the deathly prisons of Arab regimes and the horror of the refugee camps. Their voices are equally valuable and deserve the same dignity as every other Palestinian voice. The challenge facing Palestinians is to hold to this key demand in the face of the concerted pressure that will be exerted by those who wish to keep to the old order, or to put themselves in charge of the new one. The decades-old Palestinian struggle for freedom and representation takes new life, and new hope, from the Arab revolutions. Palestinian territories Arab and Middle East unrest Hamas Fatah Protest Middle East Karma Nabulsi guardian.co.uk
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If you had only one book to pass on to the next generation, what would it be? Writers and readers name the classics they most treasure Word of mouth – and its more formal big sisters, reading groups or prize lists – is still one of the most effective ways of promoting good writing, even in these days of ebooks and downloads. To honour that, the Orange prize for fiction has joined forces with Vintage Classics to ask 100 people to name the one book they would pass on to the next generation – their so-called inheritance classic. The choices are fascinating. Certain authors make more than one appearance: Woolf, Austen, Tolstoy, Hardy, Faulkner, Misses C and E Brontë, Orwell, Harper Lee and Homer had more mentions than I’d have expected. Interesting, too, was how proportionately few contemporary novels make the cut – White Teeth, Wolf Hall and Trainspotting are here, but no Money or Saturday. This is a list of individual readers’ individual choices. But, taken as a whole, it gives an insight into how, and why, classics become classics. Childhood reading matters a great deal, not only the books that we are given to read by teachers or parents, but also those discoveries we make for ourselves. Which leads me to my choice – Agatha Christie, the first author I discovered. Kept inside by the rain during a wet summer holiday in Devon with my family in the 1970s, I raided the bookshelves and found a battered paperback edition of The Murder at the Vicarage. The day was spent reading and eating Cadbury’s Fruit & Nut, and it was the start of a love affair. My inheritance classic is a favourite Christie, Sleeping Murder. Not only is it a fine psychological thriller, superbly plotted, with a great sense of place and time but, just as important, it’s a novel about female experience and where the hero is an old woman. Subversive indeed. Kate Mosse Michael Morpurgo The Man Who Planted Trees, by Jean Giono The Man Who Planted Trees is the story of one man’s mission to bring new life to a bleak landscape in southern France. It’s a story that resonates with children and grownup children alike. I used it a lot when I was teaching in primary schools. What’s wonderful about Giono’s novella is that it reads like non-fiction, which is the mark of all great fiction. He’s one of those people who somehow manages to paint a landscape with very few words. There are no words wasted. It’s one of those amazing stories that is even more relevant now than before because we are screaming to find a way of bringing new life to our planet. This is the most compelling book I know and maybe the most important. Wish I’d written it myself. Very cross about that. Lionel Shriver Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates Revolutionary Road reads as a surprisingly modern book, despite being published in 1960. It’s very readable, and it still seems relevant now, which would suggest that it will stand the test of time. The book captures the dissatisfaction that a lot of people have with office life, with feeling like you’re a cog in the machine and that you’re cut out for something better. What I especially like is the characters’ conviction that there’s this other place you could go to where all your troubles would be solved. In their case, it’s France. But I’ve got friends in New York who, when George Bush was running for the second time, vowed that if he won, they would move to Italy. They didn’t, but it shows that it’s still a commonplace notion in America that you can move to Europe and your life will get better. Will Self Mrs Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf There are many books worthy of future generations, and Mrs Dalloway just happens to be one that I read recently. That said, I think it’s a beautiful piece of writing that sustains the idea that you don’t need omniscient narrators, and you don’t need all the conventional literary carpentry in order to write a novel. It was the point at which Virginia Woolf took on the Joycean revolution of the novel and tried to tell a story from the perspective of consciousness, rather than the omniscient narrative. The story also takes place at a very interesting point in time. It is set in the late 1920s, when women had recently obtained the vote, so in some senses it speaks about the change in female consciousness that had occurred in the first two to three decades of the 20th century. Brian Keenan The Plague, by Albert Camus I think I was in my mid-teens when I first read The Plague . It’s a book about being aware and making choices and thinking about commitments, about some of the most important issues you have to face as a teenager. I was kind of in my angry young man stage at the time, but there was something about Camus that stuck with me. He stood out among his contemporaries as having more of a human face. The book is more instructive about how to live with meaningfulness, but there’s a generosity of spirit behind the writing. His characters are very, very well drawn. I find them totally human, facing dilemmas that we all have to face. When I came home from my time in Lebanon, a friend asked if I wanted a book for the train. I immediately asked for Camus. It was just spontaneous. Somebody who can write a novel that has the power of a parable is a very great writer indeed. Martha Lane Fox The Iliad, by Homer My dad first read The Iliad to me when I was about 12. Seeing passages written 2,500 years ago moving him to tears really influenced how I thought about the past. I just loved the story – it is astonishing, the story of Troy, and all of the different conflicts, tangles and relationships, the heroes and heroines. Re-reading it when I was older, I got more from the more complex love relationships – the warriors departing and leaving their wives and lovers, knowing they were not coming back. It is about war and the violence and sacrifices made. You can feel the tug of that thread from Homer’s day through to today. Bear Grylls Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe I read Robinson Crusoe when I was about 11 and it took me on an adventure and allowed me that dream: what if . . . ? I now read it to my eldest son and I see his eyes light up just like mine did, which gives the book another magical edge. It inspired me and the work I do – I have done many desert island shows now and they are always among the most popular. It is in people’s psyches to be fascinated by islands, being a castaway, and imagining what it is like to survive alone. Marina Lewycka The Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot The Mill on the Floss is about the rise and fall of a Lincolnshire family and moves subtly between humour, polemic and tragedy. Each time I read it I find something new. It’s a powerful, emotional story but it’s also a feminist novel and the issue of women’s right to education is very well expressed. George Eliot is one of those brilliant writers who manages to be polemical while telling a really good story. It would be lovely to think that the issues of class, snobbery and gender inequality it examines so movingly will seem irrelevant to the next generation – and that the book will be interesting mainly as a curiosity – but I don’t think they will go away as easily as my generation of the 60s had hoped. Jenni Murray The Women’s Room, by Marilyn French The Women’s Room isn’t a literary masterpiece to compare with something like The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, which was really the first time women’s experience was talked about, but it summons the atmosphere of a revolutionary period in gender politics. My copy, read in my twenties in one sitting, is full of underlinings and exclamation marks. The part that always stands out for me is where the characters are sitting around talking about independence, the importance of female friends, going to university, and one of them says, isn’t it irritating when discussions about feminism end up with who does the dishes? I am certain that’s as relevant now as it was in the 1970s. Interviews by Emine Saner, Tom Meltzer, Patrick Kingsley and Nicole Jackson The Orange Inheritance collection is published by Vintage Classics on 7 April. Kate Mosse, Lionel Shriver and Mark Haddon will be speaking about their ‘Inheritance Classics’ at Foyles, Charing Cross Road, London WC2 on Saturday 7 May. Visit foyles.co.uk/events-at-foyles for tickets and information. Classics Fiction Literary fiction guardian.co.uk
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• Press refresh, F5 or hit auto update for the latest • Email rob.smyth@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts • Buy the Guardian’s Ashes book if you like 9th over: New Zealand 37-1 (Guptill 20, Ryder 3) Three commentators! I can’t get used to this. Now we have Nasser Hussain, David Lloyd and Simon Doull. Maybe we should have three OBO commentators. Two proper writers and, for a bit of variety, a token joke figure. Insert your own joke here. Ryder gets away with one there, clunking Mathews just over the man at short extra cover. Sri Lanka are starting to put the squeeze on, with just runs from the last three overs. “I see that the review of the winter is to take place in a few weeks,” says Luke Richardson. “Will Smyth’s schedule be up for discussion? Whereas England may only privately admit to the exhausting nature of their winter, Rob is gutsy enough to open up and declare his use (in whatever amounts Dean Conway sees fit if England take this on) Liver Compromiser, Mood Elevation Facilitator and the like. Of course, there may be more people at an Andrew Strauss press conference than there are here so the benefit of sharing the problem is, as I think we’ve often seen, limited. Certainly there’s no evidence to suggest that Rob’s method of coping works.” I’m funny how? Like a clown, etc, etc. 8th over: New Zealand 34-1 (Guptill 19, Ryder 1) “Matt Turland’s remarks about McCullum remind me of the first time I watched televised cricket with my girlfriend (now wife),” says Edmund King. “After a few thoughtful minutes of silence, she opined, ‘you know, this game would be more interesting if they just randomly released some lions onto the field. Right about now’. Moral of story: be wary about marrying classics graduates.” WICKET! New Zealand 32-1 (B McCullum b Herath 13) The dangerous Brendon McCullum has gone. He tried to slog-sweep the first delivery of Herath’s over, and the ball went straight on with the arm to hit off stump. That was a pretty ugly dismissal, and it continues McCullum’s horrible tournament: he has made 16, 6, 14, 4 and 13 against the Test-playing nations. 7th over: New Zealand 32-0 (Guptill 18, B McCullum 13) Three singles from Mathews’ over. Tony Greig, one of the 19 commentators talking simultaneously, reckons New Zealand need 280 or more. “Ah come now, Rob, don’t be so hard on yourself,” says Paddy McQueen. “You’ve plenty more depths to plunge at the helm of the OBO. Keep on sinking, old chap.” 6th over: New Zealand 29-0 (Guptill 17, B McCullum 11) Having defended a maiden in Herath’s previous over, McCullum slog-sweeps the first ball of this one for six! That was a fine stroke. There’s a huge LBW appeal against McCullum later in the over from a ball that pitches on off stump and straightens appreciably. I reckon that was hitting off stump, but Aleem Dar said not out and Sri Lanka accepted that decision. They were right to eschew the review, because replays showed it was hitting the outside of off stump and therefore the original decision would have stood. “Any thoughts on the wisdom of replacing a spinner with a seamer on a slow/moribund track?” says Martin Sinclair. “Can’t say I know much about either of them, but I’m sure they’re both brave little soldiers and keen as mustard to over perform and be patronised by likes of me.” Well Luke Woodcock look a fraction out of his depth on Friday, and Sri Lanka are even better players of spin. I assume that was the thinking. I don’t know much about McKay, mind. 5th over: New Zealand 20-0 (Guptill 15, B McCullum 5) Apparently our auto-refresh isn’t working again. Sorry about this. Just get intimate with F5 for the latest news. It’s not that long since you were together on a daily basis. The old magic will still be there. Guptill has started authoritatively and drives Mathews’ second ball nicely through mid on for four. This is a decent start for New Zealand although, as against South Africa, there are too many dot balls: 23 out of 30 so far. You do the math. “Rob, it’s 4am here in the States, and I’m still conscious for this game,” apologises David Naylor. “Had no intention of being so. Any advice for when I have to actually be awake and attentive in four hours? I figured I’d ask you since 1) you love e-mails so much and 2) you’re a savvy veteran of this time of night. Also, I’ll take NZ to win this one. I mean, they keep getting to these things, they’ve gotta win one sooner or later. Right? Right?” Just bathe your face in coffee when you wake up. That usually works regardless of how little sleep you have. 4th over: New Zealand 16-0 (Guptill 11, B McCullum 5) A fine over from Herath to McCullum is a maiden. The fourth ball was a beauty that turned enough to take the leading edge, and that was a little ominous for New Zealand. “Rob, you’re not going to resign are you?” chirps Nigel Smith. “It does seem to be the trend at the moment. Don’t listen to those people who want you to talk about cricket.” Well, I think I’ve taken the OBO as far as I can, and it’s time for somebody else to see if they can lower the bar even further. 3rd over: New Zealand 16-0 (Guptill 11, B McCullum 5) A bowling change already, with Mathews replacing Malinga. The latter bowls best with the old ball, so it makes sense to save him. Guptill flicks the first ball to short fine leg, where the hamstrung Murali makes a total meal of it and the ball goes for four. This is a big risk with Murali today. He told Tony Greig that he’s only 65 per cent fit. Surely they should have taken the gamble that they would win this game and tried to get him as fit as possible for the final? Guptill flicks two more through the peculiarly vacant midwicket area, and this is a good start for New Zealand. “Very impressed to read this morning that Lord Selvey himself apparently saved 50-over cricket last year ,” says Lee Rodwell. “Now you know exactly who to blame during the BMOs. Any chance he could do something similar for the NHSBritish economyred squirrelT-Bone Steak Roysters?” How about Peep Show? Maybe a guest appearance from Selve could bring Peep Show back to its glory days. 2nd over: New Zealand 10-0 (Guptill 5, B McCullum 5) Sri Lanka open the bowling with spin, as they did on Saturday, but this time it’s Rangana Herath rather than Tillakaratne Dilshan. That’s because New Zealand have two right handers, whereas England had the left-handed Strauss. The second ball is a miserable half tracker that McCullum, who won’t die wondering like England did, pulls meatily for four. “B McCullum has had a dismal (might be a little harsh but I’m in a foul mood) tournament so far,” says Matt Turland, who is in such a foul mood that he even refused to refer to McCullum by his first name. “If New Zealand are going to stand any chance of winning, he needs to do something special at the top of the order. Either that, or accidentally let go of his bat and injure half of the SL team. The second option seems more likely.” 1st over: New Zealand 4-0 (Guptill 4, B McCullum 0) Shall we do this thing? Let’s do this thing. Lasith Malinga is going to bowl the first over of the innings – but hang on, what’s this? We now have three commentators. They are copying the Channel 9 system. At the moment it’s Tony Greig, Russel Arnold and Ian Botham. Three commentators. Really? It doesn’t feel right. Not since the episode of Father Ted when Dougal was running scared of the sheep-killing beast with four arses has there seemed such an odd number of something. Anyway, after four dot balls Guptill gets New Zealand up and running with a confident clip over midwicket for four. “Rob,” says Daniel Pfeiffer, “if you actually report the cricket I’m off to cricinfo, I don’t even really like cricket but this is a great break from tedium.” Fish fingers, Easy A, retro football tops, blond nu-mullets, Tony Soprano, Mungo Jerry, Top Trumps, Beef Disco’s, quarts of Liver Compromiser. That do you for now? The first email of the day “Rob, could you please stop with all the comic asides and just give me details of the cricket?” says Alex Netherton. “So far you’ve given no descriptions of the action.” Some pre-match statgasms, c/o Infostrada • There has never been an all-Asian final before • New Zealand haven’t won an ODI in Colombo since 1986 • Sri Lanka haven’t lost a World Cup game against New Zealand since they got in 1996 • No host or co-host has reached the World Cup final since Sri Lanka in 1996 New Zealand have won the toss and will bat first. That’s a decent toss to win on a pitch that should get slower and lower as the day progresses (it’s the same pitch on which they eviscerated England three days ago). Muttiah Muralitharan is fit, so Sri Lanka are unchanged, while New Zealand bring in the seamer Andy McKay for the left-arm spinner Luke Woodcock. Sri Lanka Tharanga, Dilshan, Sangakkara (c/wk), Jayawardene, Samaraweera, Silva, Mathews, Malinga, Muralitharan, Mendis, Herath. New Zealand Guptill, B McCullum (wk), Ryder, Taylor, Styris, Williamson, N McCullum, Oram, Vettori (c), Southee, McKay. Preamble Pop quiz, hotshot: how many sides have reached more cricket World Cup semi-finals than New Zealand? Answer: none. This is their sixth, which puts them level with Australia and Pakistan (who play their sixth tomorrow, I forget who against). It’s a staggering achievement for such a small country. Just as the All Blacks find weird and wonderful ways to underachieve at the rugby World Cup, so it’s an immutable law of cricket World Cups that New Zealand will be hopelessly patronised every time they reach the semi-finals overachieve. Of all their journeys to the last four, this is surely the most improbable. Not just because they are the last non-Asian side standing, but also because they had been in such diabolical form before the tournament. They won just two of their last 16 ODIs leading up to the World Cup, including an infamous 4-0 defeat in Bangladesh. Yet, as usual, they pulled out a performance when it really mattered. Right, that’s enough of blowing smoke up their aperture because, as admirable a side as they are, they need a minor miracle to beat Sri Lanka in Colombo today. They have two chances, and slim generally doesn’t do Tuesdays. On the face of it, this is a mismatch. New Zealand have never reached a World Cup final, losing all five of their previous semis. Away from the green-tinged grass of home, they have lost 18 of the last 22 ODIs against Sri Lanka. They were thrashed by Sri Lanka earlier in this tournament and in the semi-final of 2007 – and Sri Lanka didn’t have home advantage in either of those games Sri Lanka are superior to New Zealand in every facet of the game except depth of batting. There is, logically, no way New Zealand can win this. But then, as we say most recently on Friday, logic tends to take a back seat with New Zealand at the World Cup. Cricket World Cup 2011 Sri Lanka cricket team New Zealand cricket team Cricket Over by over reports Rob Smyth guardian.co.uk
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A 27.5% year-on-year surge in UK online display market attributed to Facebook as advertisers climb on social media bandwagon The seemingly unstoppable rise of Facebook fuelled year-on-year growth of more than a quarter in the UK online display advertising market to almost £1bn last year, as the total internet ad market cracked £4bn for the first time. The Internet Advertising Bureau’s annual report, compiled with PricewaterhouseCoopers and published today, attributed a 27.5% year-on-year surge in online display advertising to £945m to the Facebook effect as advertisers clambered on board the social media bandwagon. In total the UK ad market grew by 12.8% year-on-year in 2010 to pass the £4bn mark, with £1 in every £4 spent on marketing and advertising by British companies now spent online. According to industry sources, Facebook UK made about £100m in ad revenue last year. The IAB said that the spend on social media accounted for 14%, or £132m, of the online display advertising market – a 200% rise year-on-year. In 2009 the online display advertising market was worth £709m , meaning growth last year of £236m or 33%, however the IAB has stripped out “new media entrants” in the online display sector to give a like-for-like growth figure of 27.5%. The online display market also benefited from the rise of video advertising, which almost doubled in size to £54m. Online display now accounts for 23% of all internet advertising. Advertisers’ appetite to tap into the Facebook generation reduced the skew of the proportion of the total £4bn spent on internet advertising attributable to paid-for search – effectively money spent on Google – down from 61% to 57%. The paid-for search market grew by 8% year-on-year to £2.35bn. To put this in perspective the total UK TV ad market was worth about £3.5bn last year. However, TV advertising bounced back strongly from the 2009 recession, with 15% year-on-year growth in 2010, outstripping the growth rate for internet advertising for the first time since it has been measured as a substantial media more than a decade ago. Bucking the trend seen in print advertising, the online classified market grew 9.7% year-on-year in 2010 to £751m. Mobile advertising grew 116% to £83m. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook . Advertising Facebook Internet Social networking Digital media Marketing & PR Mark Sweney guardian.co.uk
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Doubt over Tepco’s future coincides with mounting criticism of its handling of the worst nuclear accident in country’s history Japan’s government is reportedly ready to consider nationalising the operator of the crippled power plant at the centre of the worst nuclear accident in the country’s history. News that the state could take a majority stake in the Tokyo Electric Power company (Tepco) came after nuclear safety officials confirmed traces of plutonium had been found in soil in five locations in the Fukushima Daiichi atomic complex. The prime minister, Naoto Kan, fought off criticism of his handling of the crisis, insisting to MPs that a state of “maximum alert” would be maintained until the power plant had been made safe. Doubts over the future of Tepco, the largest power company in Asia, has coincided with mounting criticism of its handling of the world’s worst nuclear emergency since Chernobyl. Much of the criticism is being directed at Tepco’s president, Masataka Shimizu, who has not been seen in public for several days. Tepco officials said Shimizu, 66, had been absent for a few days last week due to a “minor illness”, but claimed he had resumed work directing emergency operations at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo. Shimizu hasn’t appeared before the media since 13 March; for six days from 16 March, as his employees battled to prevent stricken reactors from going into full meltdown, he reportedly did not attend crisis meetings or visit Tepco’s HQ. On 15 March Shimizu was on the receiving end of an outburst from Kan, who said the firm had been too slow to inform him of an explosion at the plant. Reporters overheard Kan demanding of Shimizu and other Tepco executives: “What the hell is going on?” In addition, Shimizu’s firm has been accused of delaying the use of seawater to cool overheating reactors at Fukushima because of the damage it might cause. The government has since said the plant will be decommissioned. On Sunday, the firm offered wildly inaccurate readings of radiation levels inside the No 2 reactor building , for which it later apologised. Last week it emerged that two workers exposed to high levels of radiation were standing in puddles of contaminated water wearing only ankle boots. Shimizu, an enthusiastic cost cutter, was praised for restoring Tepco to profitability after it sustained heavy losses in a 2007 earthquake. But recent reports said that under Shimizu, Tepco failed to make mandatory safety checks and sought to extend the operational life of old reactors. Tepco’s shares have lost about 70% of their value – or $30bn (£19bn) – since the 11 March earthquake and tsunami, and the cost of insuring its debts against default are 10 times higher than they were before the crisis. The government’s chief spokesman, Yukio Edano, denied newspaper reports that nationalisation was among the options under consideration. “It is my understanding that the government is not considering it,” he said. “The government will be directing Tepco to do everything possible to resolve the situation and help the people who are affected.” But the national strategy minister, Koichiro Gemba, said it could not be ruled out. “There will naturally be various debates about Tokyo Electric’s future,” Kyodo news agency quoted him as saying. Several members of the government reportedly believe the state should temporarily take control of the company to enable it to compensate businesses and households affected by radiation leaks, and to repair its damaged nuclear reactors. Hajime Motojuku, a Tepco spokesman, said he was unaware of any plans for nationalisation. “Our first and biggest priority at this moment is to prevent the nuclear power plant accident from worsening further,” he said. Tsunami and quake damage has forced a significant drop in Tepco’s capacity to generate electricity, resulting in rolling power cuts that could last into the summer. Tepco is reportedly in talks with several banks over emergency loans worth a potential ¥2tn (£15bn), a move that surprised some analysts given its large cash reserves. Financial statements show that at the end of last year, Tepco held cash and similar assets worth ¥432bn, and ¥7.5tn in outstanding debt. Kan, meanwhile, faced accusations that his visit to Fukushima Daiichi the day after the tsunami had held up initial attempts to vent damaged reactors to relieve pressure inside them. Kan denied that his visit on the morning of 12 March had worsened the situation. “It was necessary for me to go there to understand what was going on,” he said. “It was helpful in making decisions later on, and it’s not true that my visit caused a delay in the procedure.” Yosuke Isozaki, an opposition Liberal Democrat MP, said Kan should have ordered people living within a 20-30km (12-19-mile) radius of the plant to evacuate. The 130,000 people living in the area have so far been told to remain indoors. “Is there anything as irresponsible as this?” Isozaki said. Nuclear safety officials said the plutonium traces announced on Monday were not hazardous to health, but the discovery lends weight to fears that dangerously radioactive water is leaking from damaged nuclear fuel rods. “The situation is very grave,” Edano said. “We are doing our utmost to contain the damage.” If inhaled, plutonium, a byproduct of uranium fission, can linger in internal organs and bones and cause cancer. It is also an ingredient in mixed oxide (MOX) fuel used in the plant’s No 3 reactor, but officials have yet to determine whether that is the source of the leak. Japan disaster Japan Nuclear power Energy Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
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