Italian court hears 24-year-old is a ‘double soul’ as she appeals against conviction for murdering British student Meredith Kercher Amanda Knox is an “enchanting witch”, a woman with a “double soul” – part angel, part devil – her appeal hearing has been told by a lawyer representing the man Knox first accused of murdering Meredith Kercher. “Who is Amanda Knox?” Carlo Pacelli asked the judges and jury in a final address before the verdict, which is expected early next week. “Is she the mild, sweet young woman with no makeup you see before you today? Or is she, in fact, the one I have described and who emerges from the court papers on the basis of eyewitness portraits, given over to lust, narcotic substances and the consumption of alcohol?” The 24-year-old Knox, Pacelli said, was “the one and the other. In her, there is a double soul: the good, angelic, compassionate one … tender and ingenuous, and the Lucifer-like, demonic, satanic, diabolic one that at times wanted to live out borderline, extreme actions and dissolute behaviour.” The latter, he said, was the Amanda of the night in 2007 on which the British student Kercher was murdered in the hilltop city of Perugia. Pacelli was speaking on behalf of a Congolese barman, Patrick Lumumba, named by Knox as the killer in a controversial statement she made to police four days after Kercher’s body was discovered. Lumumba made himself a party to the case, as is permitted under Italian law, and his presence at the trial and appeal has had an important bearing on both. Knox subsequently withdrew the statement, which was signed at the end of an all-night interrogation without the presence of a lawyer or consular representative. She also later claimed she was repeatedly slapped by police during the questioning. The claim has earned her and her family, who repeated it, an action for slander by the Perugia force. At the request of Knox’s lawyers, Italy’s highest appeals court ruled the statement inadmissible. But it featured at the trial, and has been referred to repeatedly during her appeal because of Lumumba’s involvement. Knox and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, are appealing against their sentences, of 26 and 25 years respectively. On Saturday, the prosecution asked that, on the contrary, their jail terms should be increased to life on the grounds that they had no motive for the killing. A lower court found that Kercher died resisting involvement in a drug-fuelled sex session. Amanda Knox Meredith Kercher Italy John Hooper guardian.co.uk
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International Labour Organisation said the group of developing and developed nations had seen 20m jobs disappear since the financial crisis in 2008 The world’s major economies are heading for a “massive jobs shortfall” by the end of next year if governments do not change their tack on policy, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said in a study published on Monday. In the report, prepared with the OECD for G20 labour ministers meeting in Paris on Monday, the ILO said the group of developing and developed nations had seen 20m jobs disappear since the financial crisis in 2008. At current rates it would be impossible to recover them in the near term and there was a risk of the number doubling by the end of next year, it said. “We must act now to reverse the slowdown in employment growth and make up for the jobs lost,” ILO director general Juan Somavia said in a statement. “Employment creation has to become a top macroeconomic priority.” The number of people in work in the G20 has risen by 1% since 2010, but 1.3% annual growth is needed to return to pre-crisis employment levels by 2015, the ILO said. “However, employment growth of less than 1% cannot be excluded given the slowdown of the world economy and the anaemic growth foreseen in several G20 countries,” the report said. “Should employment grow at a rate of 0.8% until end 2012, now a distinct possibility, then the shortfall in employment would increase by some 20m to a total of 40m in G20 countries.” India and China, the world’s most populous countries, were both laggards with less than 1% annual growth in total employment, the report said, so an extra push for jobs could have a major impact on the G20. However, the report was based on figures for both countries that were not up to date. China’s jobs growth of 0.7% was for 2009, while India’s 0.4% was the average annual change between 2004-2005 and 2009-2010. After stripping out India, China and Saudi Arabia, which also used 2009 data, employment growth in the other 17 countries was 1.5%, according to a Reuters calculation based on data in the ILO report. The latest figures for other G20 countries show four with growth rates below 1%, namely Italy, France, South Africa and the United States, while two others – Japan and Spain – have seen a fall in total employment in the past year. Since the beginning of 2008, Spain, South Africa and the United States had experienced the biggest falls in employment among the G20 countries. Spain and the United States also saw the biggest rises in unemployment rates, followed by Britain. Global economy Economics Unemployment and employment statistics Job losses guardian.co.uk
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President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative party loses its majority in upper house for the first time in more than 50 years France’s left wrested the Senate from the right in indirect elections on Sunday, taking the majority of seats in the upper house of parliament for the first time in more than 50 years – a blow to conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy. Seven months before presidential elections, Sarkozy’s party downplayed what it said was a narrow win – up to three seats, according to officials from the president’s party. The minister for parliamentary relations, Patrick Ollier, said the results had “no national political significance”. Final results of the voting to fill half the seats in the 348-seat house were not in, but the Socialist party leader in the Senate announced the victory. “This is a day that will mark history,” Jean-Pierre Bel, head of the Senate’s Socialist party, said. The Senate president has a consequential role under the French constitution – as interim leader should the nation’s president become incapacitated. The upper house, a 17th-century palace at the foot of the Luxembourg gardens in Paris, is sometimes derided as an institution that specialises in handing out rubber stamps. Nevertheless it can initiate bills and slow down their passage. The right had controlled the Senate since the start of the Fifth Republic in 1958. “For the first time, change is in motion … This is a real affront to the right,” Bel said. He estimated the left had won 24 to 26 new seats. It needed 23 seats to gain a majority. Final results were not expected immediately. The result is a further blow to the profile of the already unpopular Sarkozy, providing the Socialist party with prestige and political capital. Senate president Gérard Larcher, of Sarkozy’s party, conceded the left “made a real push … larger than I thought” – but said he would seek to renew his mandate. Leading members of Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement party, known as UMP, stressed the forthcoming vote on 1 October for the president of the chamber. Socialists attributed their success to discontent in France’s towns and rural heartland, the home bases of the 71,890 delegates – regionally and locally elected officials who cast ballots to fill the 170 seats. Senators who were elected on Sunday have six-year mandates. Jean-François Copé, head of Sarkozy’s UMP, said the election results were “a disappointment but not a surprise”. “In no way is it a disavowal of the politics of the government,” he said. In the presidential elections, the “totality of voters” will take part – not delegates voting to fill half a chamber, he said. The Socialist party entered the elections confidently after a string of leftist victories in regional and local elections since 2008. The party elections chief, Christophe Borgel, said local officials “have the feeling of being held in scorn”. A 2010 territorial reform will put several thousand regional and general councillors out of jobs. Some of these officials have complained government funds were not keeping up with increased responsibilities handed over to regions in a 2004 reform. François Hollande, a favourite among several Socialist party members seeking the party’s presidential candidacy, said a leftist Senate majority would serve a Socialist party president well because it would be the first time the party could work with a leftist majority in the Senate. Sarkozy will not be the first president to preside over the nation with opponents in control of at least one house of parliament. Socialist president François Mitterrand dealt for each of his 14 years in office with his political rivals in the Senate and was forced to cohabit during part of his mandate with a conservative prime minister, Jacques Chirac, who succeeded him as president. France Europe Nicolas Sarkozy guardian.co.uk
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SANAA (Reuters) – Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh made no pledge on Sunday to step down in his first address to the nation since returning home, calling for early elections in a move that is unlikely to appease protesters demanding his immediate departure. Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh delivers a televised speech in Sanaa September 25, 2011. Saleh made no pledge to step down in his first address to the nation since returning home, calling for early elections in a move that is unlikely to appease protesters demanding his immediate departure. (REUTERS/Yemeni Army Media Department/Handout) Saleh, speaking after the sixth day of a wave of violence in which more than 100 people have…
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Kenyan social activist and environmental crusader who founded the Green Belt Movement has died of cancer Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel peace prize, died on Sunday night of cancer. She was 71. A towering figure in Kenya, Maathai was renowned as a fearless social activist and an environmental crusader. Her Green Belt Movement, which she founded in 1977, planted tens of millions of trees. Maathai’s death was confirmed in a statement on the movement’s website . “It is with great sadness that the family of Professor Wangari Maathai announces her passing away on 25th September, 2011, at the Nairobi Hospital, after a prolonged and bravely borne struggle with cancer. Her loved ones were with her at the time.” Maathai was a pioneer from an early age and in many spheres. After winning a scholarship to study in the US, she returned to a newly independent Kenya, becoming the first woman in east and central Africa to obtain a PhD. Maathai was also the first woman professor the University of Nairobi, where she taught veterinary medicine. Her work with voluntary groups alerted her to the struggles of women in rural Kenya, and it quickly became her life’s cause. Noticing how the rapid environmental degradation was affecting women’s lives, she encouraged them to plant trees to ensure future supplies of firewood and to protect water sources and crops. Maathai’s agenda quickly widened as she joined the struggle against the repressive and corrupt regime of Daniel arap Moi. Her efforts to stop powerful politicians grabbing land, especially forests, brought her into conflict with the authorities, and she was beaten and arrested numerous times. Her bravery and defiance made her a hero in Kenya. In awarding Maathai the Nobel peace prize in 2004, the Nobel committee said that her “unique forms of action have contributed to drawing attention to political oppression – nationally and internationally”. Maathai served as an assistant minister in President Mwai Kibaki’s government from 2003 to 2005, but her refusal to keep silent on some issues saw her politically sidelined, and she lost her seat after a single term. Her work schedule remained hectic however, and she wrote several books and travelled widely. Maathai had been in and out of hospital this year, though most Kenyans were unaware of her illness until it was reported in the local media late last week. “Professor Maathai’s departure is untimely and a very great loss to all who knew her – as a mother, relative, co-worker, colleague, role model, and heroine; or who admired her determination to make the world a more peaceful, healthier, and better place,” the statement from her organisation said. Maathai is survived by her three children and a granddaughter. Wangari Maathai Kenya Africa Nobel peace prize Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
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Nearly 100 of the rare scaly anteaters, worth about £20,000, were found in a truck bound for Vietnam or China Authorities in Thailand have rescued nearly 100 endangered pangolins worth about $32,000 (£20,000) that they say were to be sold and eaten outside the country. Head of customs, Prasong Poontaneat, says the anteaters were seized from a truck on Sunday evening in the southern province of Prachuap Khiri Khan after a driver fled a checkpoint. Prasong says the driver was detained. Prasong believes the mammals might have come from Malaysia or Indonesia and were en route to either Vietnam or China, where many believe they can cure ailments and boost sexual prowess. The animals are protected by a convention on international trade in endangered species of which Thailand is a member. Thailand Endangered species Wildlife Conservation Animals guardian.co.uk
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US citizen and attacker killed after gunfire and blast heard at hotel used as base for office in Kabul A US citizen was killed in an attack on a hotel in Kabul used as a CIA office on Sunday. The attack was carried out by an Afghan employee who was also killed. Officials are still investigating what happened in an area with restricted access even for Afghan security forces. The Ariana hotel is just a few blocks away from the presidential palace and the US embassy, in a heavily guarded military and diplomatic enclave almost entirely inaccessible to casual visitors. Gunfire and a small blast were heard by Reuters witnesses a few hundred metres away late on Sunday. Kabul police chief, Ayub Salangi, said there had been an incident at the Ariana hotel, which he described as an “office” for the US government’s Central Intelligence Agency. He had no further information. Afghan security forces have only limited access to the area. The CIA and the US embassy in Kabul declined to comment. But a US official, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation, confirmed an attack had been made against a US facility in Kabul. Access to the hotel has been restricted at least since the fall of the Taliban government in late 2001. Perhaps because of its proximity to the presidential palace, it was used by ruling regimes for years before that. Two weeks ago, militants launched an assault against the US embassy and Nato headquarters in Kabul. Top US officials including Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, blamed those attacks on the Haqqani network, a group of Afghan militants based in Pakistan’s tribal areas, and said they were supported by Pakistan’s spy agency. Pakistani officials strongly denied any ISI connection to the Haqqani network or the previous attacks on Kabul. Afghanistan United States CIA guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Lamar Alexander Claims Harry Reid Manufactured a Crisis on Disaster Relief
September 25, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media (h/t Heather at VideoCafe) When Sen. Lamar Alexander resigned his leadership position in the GOP , I had a faint hope that Alexander was protesting the caricature his party has become with the increasing but clueless influence of the tea party. But no, that was for naught, as his very first Sunday show appearance after his Good Bye Cruel GOP letter of resignation was to blame Senate Leader Harry Reid for “manufacturing a crisis” in terms of the potential for another government shutdown over funding disaster relief for Hurricane Irene : CROWLEY: Senator Alexander, let me ask you if you buy into Senator Warner’s premise, which is that tea party folks are basically at fault, I think I’m — that’s not a direct quote, but that the tea party-backed folks in the House are the ones behind this stalemate that is now threatening yet another government shutdown. Do you agree with that? SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER (R), TENNESSEE: No, I don’t. You know, I’ll give the Senate Democratic leader most of the credit. He manufactured a crisis all week about disaster when there’s no crisis. Everybody knows we’re going to pay for every single penny of disaster aid that the president declares and that FEMA certifies. And the House sent over a bill that does that and the Senate should have approved it. What it did was take $1.5 billion of unobligated funds and say, we’re going to — instead of adding to the debt we’re going to not add to the debt when we do this. No crisis? Our third approach to a government shutdown in a year due to the ridiculous hostage taking of the Republican Party and it’s Harry Reid that is manufacturing the crisis? We are well and truly in Bizarro-land. But of course, it’s not for Candy Crowley to point out that every little thing is being held up by the Republicans in congress, making this one of the least productive congressional sessions in history . And if “everybody knows” that Congress will approve the disaster aid, then what is the kabuki theater that the tea party Republicans insist upon? Why are Republicans suddenly now looking for budgetary offsets when they approved trillions of off-budget expenditures while they held the majority? Of course, none of this was raised by Crowley in response. Why give her viewers any context or facts to assess Alexander’s statement?
Continue reading …Lamar Alexander Claims Harry Reid Manufactured a Crisis on Disaster Relief
September 25, 2011 No CommentClick here to view this media (h/t Heather at VideoCafe) When Sen. Lamar Alexander resigned his leadership position in the GOP , I had a faint hope that Alexander was protesting the caricature his party has become with the increasing but clueless influence of the tea party. But no, that was for naught, as his very first Sunday show appearance after his Good Bye Cruel GOP letter of resignation was to blame Senate Leader Harry Reid for “manufacturing a crisis” in terms of the potential for another government shutdown over funding disaster relief for Hurricane Irene : CROWLEY: Senator Alexander, let me ask you if you buy into Senator Warner’s premise, which is that tea party folks are basically at fault, I think I’m — that’s not a direct quote, but that the tea party-backed folks in the House are the ones behind this stalemate that is now threatening yet another government shutdown. Do you agree with that? SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER (R), TENNESSEE: No, I don’t. You know, I’ll give the Senate Democratic leader most of the credit. He manufactured a crisis all week about disaster when there’s no crisis. Everybody knows we’re going to pay for every single penny of disaster aid that the president declares and that FEMA certifies. And the House sent over a bill that does that and the Senate should have approved it. What it did was take $1.5 billion of unobligated funds and say, we’re going to — instead of adding to the debt we’re going to not add to the debt when we do this. No crisis? Our third approach to a government shutdown in a year due to the ridiculous hostage taking of the Republican Party and it’s Harry Reid that is manufacturing the crisis? We are well and truly in Bizarro-land. But of course, it’s not for Candy Crowley to point out that every little thing is being held up by the Republicans in congress, making this one of the least productive congressional sessions in history . And if “everybody knows” that Congress will approve the disaster aid, then what is the kabuki theater that the tea party Republicans insist upon? Why are Republicans suddenly now looking for budgetary offsets when they approved trillions of off-budget expenditures while they held the majority? Of course, none of this was raised by Crowley in response. Why give her viewers any context or facts to assess Alexander’s statement?
Continue reading …Last bullfight in Barcelona sells out as Spain marks end of 600 years of history
September 25, 2011 No Comment
Fans spend up to eight times face value for tickets to see the final fight before practice is banned in Catalonia • The last bullfight in Barcelona – in pictures It was the end of more than 600 years of history. On Sunday evening, amid the cheers of fans and the bloody death throes of fighting bulls, Barcelona hosted its last-ever bullfight. As dusk fell in the Catalan capital, sequin-clad local matador Serafín Marín dispatched the last of six bulls on the sand of the packed La Monumental bullring – where touts had been offering tickets at eight times their original price. With bullfighting banned in Catalonia as of next year – and with Sunday’sfight marking the end of the season in Barcelona – no Spanish fighting bull will be killed in the city in the name of sport or art for the foreseeable future. Supporters denounced the ban as an infringement of civil liberties. Opponents declared it an enlightened move away from mindless barbarity. “We have won the war, but today we will lose a battle as six animals will die,” said a 32-year-old protester who gave only her first name, Montserrat. “They are pigs,” said Antonio, 70, an elegant white-suited fan, pointing to the small crowd of animal rights protesters gathered outside La Monumental. Either way, it was a historic moment. An 18,000-strong crowd packed into the stands to watch the matadors in their shiny “suits of lights” step out for the last time to the sound of trumpets and a
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