Divers working to free four trapped miners in the Swansea Valley have been forced to return above ground, after being thwarted by murky water Divers who entered a flooded mine to help free four trapped miners have been forced to return above ground, rescuers said. Specialist divers went into the Gleision Colliery near Cilybebyll, Pontardawe in the Swansea Valley, where the men have been trapped since yesterday morning, but had to abandon their efforts after about 30 metres. But rescuers remain optimistic about the welfare of the miners, named by South Wales Police as Phillip Hill, 45, from Neath, Charles Bresnan, 62, David Powell, 50, and Garry Jenkins, 39, all from the Swansea Valley. Gary Evans of the South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team said: “We brought in some divers to see whether it was possible to go through and speed things up. “They went into the water to see whether any progress could be made that way, and they went about 20 to 30 metres, but they weren’t able to go any further.” Rescuers had hoped the divers could assess the situation before all the water had been pumped out, but debris had made the water murky, he explained. He confirmed there was still no contact with any of the men but said they remained “very hopeful”. It is believed the miners, trapped 295ft (90m) underground, would have fled to an air pocket to await rescue. Police said emergency services were continuing a “multi-agency rescue operation”, while the men’s families were being supported by family liaison officers. Fresh rescue teams were brought in this morning to relieve crews which had worked strenuously for at least 12 hours straight. An expert listening device, which can detect movement deep underground, is the among the specialist equipment that has been drafted in as part of the efforts. A fifth miner was last night critically ill in hospital after escaping as flood water engulfed the drift mine yesterday. Two other men who were with him escaped largely unharmed and are aiding the rescue operation. The alarm was raised at the pit at around 9.20am yesterday. A retaining wall holding back a body of water underground failed, flooding a tunnel that the seven men were in. Chris Margetts, from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said: “What we have determined is the miners are located approximately 90 metres underground. “They are down a 250 metre main route into the mine… There are numerous little tunnels and old workings which all potentially have air pockets in. “They are experienced miners, they know the layout of the mine, they would know where to go in this situation.” He said they were pumping it out and, once they were in a position to search off the main shaft, they would then systematically look through the smaller tunnels and shafts. “The conditions down there are favourable, it’s not raining, there’s water at the bottom but the air supply is good.” He added that rescuers were very “hopeful and optimistic” that the miners could be freed successfully. He said they were constantly monitoring the quality of the air, but could not communicate with the trapped men. An emergency centre has been set up within the community hall in the nearby village of Rhos to cater for the families of the miners. The Red Cross delivered a haul of blankets and pillows to the centre last night. Neath MP and former Labour cabinet minister Peter Hain said he had spoken with family members, many of whom were in tears. He said he had been assured that everything possible was being done to free the trapped men and vowed resources needed would be brought in to help the rescue efforts. “Nothing is more important than the lives of these men,” he said. He added that he had been given regular updates on the situation himself by the on-scene police commander and rescue crews. “They tried initially to get into the tunnel that the men use to go in and out of the mine but it was blocked with water,” he said. “They have subsequently tried the mine’s air tunnel but there was insufficient oxygen so now they are pumping oxygen in and water out.” Parish priest Martin Perry hailed the spirit of the community and said there was a “real sense of hope” that the miners could be rescued. He told Sky News: “People here are very resilient. On the one hand they are very realistic about the dangerous situation the folk are in, but they have a real sense of hope that things can turn out positively.” Wales guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media CNN’s resident expert on drawing political false equivalences ruffled Republican tail feathers for once with this bit of commentary after the CNN/Tea Party debate the other night. Not that I disagree with him either on this point as the crazy was front and center all night. It’s just nice to see the shoe on the other foot for a change. GERGEN: Oh, I think that she made a point that resonated back home with a lot of people on the question of the 30-year-old who was dying being allowed to die and the kind of response in the hall. You will recall in that last debate Governor Perry made this point about executions in Texas and there was this big applause and it got a lot of commentary. My sense is that that exchange also will get some comment out there, Anderson, because what I find so interesting is that people in this hall really did groove on much of what they heard. This is what they wanted to hear from these candidates. There are a lot of people around the country who are just like the folks in this room. And yet there are a huge number of people, an equal number of people who I think were horrified by what they heard in this room. I was getting notes about they ought to keep this people locked up and not let them out. Don’t let them do anything to the country. So, this race is increasingly I think bringing to light and once again how divided and how splintered we are and how hard it’s going to be for anybody to govern when this is over.
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Rescue attempt continues to reach men 90 metres underground at Gleision colliery, near Swansea Rescuers remained optimistic late on Thursday night that four miners trapped 90 metres underground in a flooded Welsh colliery could be saved. The incident began on Thursday morning, when water gushed into the Gleision colliery, near Swansea, possibly after the men accidentally broke through into an old flooded shaft. Seven men, including a father and son, were in the drift mine when the accident occurred. Three – among them the son – managed to escape and raise the alarm. The father was left inside. Dozens of rescuers joined the effort to pump water out of the mine so they could reach the men, who were believed to be located 250 metres along a horizontal tunnel cut into the hillside. As families gathered in a nearby village hall to wait for news, the shadow Welsh secretary and local MP, Peter Hain, said the situation was
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Scandal of $2.6bn bank fraud embroils president’s chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been forced to deny that his protege was involved in a $2.6bn (£1.64bn) bank fraud, described as the country’s biggest ever financial scam. The president’s official website on Thursday issued a statement , saying his chief of staff and close confidant, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, was not linked to the scandal, which has dominated the headlines in Tehran in the past few days. It emerged recently that Iranian regulators had frozen the assets of a businessman, identified by some local media as Amir-Mansour Aria, accused of forging documents in order to obtain credit estimated at around 30tn rials from various financial institutions, including Bank Saderat Iran, one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East. It is reported that Aria used the credit to buy state-owned companies such as the Khuzestan steel company during the government’s controversial privatisation scheme, which started in 2004. Some conservative websites published a leaked letter reportedly signed by Mashaei, in which he appears to give the go-ahead for the purchase of a state-owned steel company by a private company without the necessary formal procedures. The statement from the president’s office said Mashaei had done nothing wrong. “In continuation of damaging policies against the dedicated government, some newspapers and chain websites have discussed the issue of the banking scam ‘which had been investigated and found by the government’ in order to spread lies and propaganda … and accusing the clean and anti-corruption government of being involved in it,” the statement said. The fraud comes at the time when the president and his allies are caught in the middle of a bitter power struggle with conservatives close to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Some supporters of Khamenei believe that Mashaei is trying to increase his political influence by undermining clerical power and appealing to young people by advocating greater cultural openness. Some analysts speculated that Ahmadinejad was grooming Mashaei to succeed him in the next presidential elections. In its attempt to distance Mashaei from the scam, the statement said it reserved the right to file a complaint against the website Mashregh, the semi-official Fars news agency and newspapers including Keyhan and Tehran Emrooz, which played a key role in revealing the financial scandal in recent days. Fars is believed to be affiliated to the revolutionary guards and the head of Keyhan is appointed directly by the supreme leader. Some analysts believe privatisation has become a cover-up for redistributing the previously state-owned sectors among regime factions and various groups close to the establishment. However, the IMF in June published a statement in which it praised the economic policies of Ahmadinejad, saying the government had been successful “in reducing inequalities, improving living standards and supporting domestic demand”. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Iran Middle East Saeed Kamali Dehghan guardian.co.uk
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Far right’s 10-year grip on government has ended as Danes vote in a centre-left coalition led by Helle Thorning-Schmidt The far right’s 10-year grip on Denmark’s government has ended as the Danes voted for their first female prime minister, handing government to a centre-left coalition. The close general election gave victory to the social democrats, closing a decade of rightwing ascendancy during which a minority government of liberals and conservatives was kept in power by parliamentary support from the europhobic, Muslim-baiting Danish People’s party. Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the social democrat leader and daughter-in-law of Neil and Glenys Kinnock, salvaged her political career by ousting the liberal prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s coalition at her second attempt. She is expected to form a government with three other liberal and leftwing parties. Her victory, though, was narrower than predicted and could produce a fragile coalition. Her “red bloc” secured only a three-seat majority of the 175 at stake in mainland Denmark, with almost all votes counted. A further four seats reserved for faraway Greenland and the Faroes islands had still to be declared. The expectation was that the centre-left would emerge with a five-seat margin in the 179-seat chamber in Copenhagen. The social democratic win bucked the trend of politics in Europe where the centre-left has been in the doldrums, unable to capitalise on the fallout from the 2008 financial and economic crisis and stagnation in the EU while also failing to come up with attractive policies on other potent issues such as immigration and Islam. European centre-left leaders claimed to detect a shift in the public mood ahead of elections in France and Italy next year. The DPP, whose influence has forced the passage of dozens of laws countering immigration and whose success over the past decade has made it the model for likeminded parties in Sweden, Finland and The Netherlands who have chalked up notable gains over the past two years, conceded defeat and promised robust opposition. “Immigration policy is our lifeblood. Do you think they can get by without us? No, they can’t,” declared Pia Kjaersgaard, the party leader. The far right has succeeded in making its tough anti-immigrant position the Danish mainstream stance. Thorning-Schmidt is not expected to veer radically from that, but two of her proposed coalition partners, the Social Liberal party and the Red-Green Alliance, performed strongly in the election and espouse less restrictive immigration policies. Analysts said that in a society that prizes consensus, major changes in key policy areas were unlikely. But with economic stagnation and a rising budget deficit dominating the campaign, the outgoing government promised spending cuts while Thorning-Schmidt argued for more investment in education, welfare, and infrastructure. Given the austerity policies favoured across Europe by the dominant centre-right as the response to the lack of growth, Denmark will be watched to see whether the new government will take a different approach and succeed. Denmark The far right Europe Ian Traynor Lars Eriksen guardian.co.uk
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Peter Bryan, who smashed fellow patient’s head on floor because ‘he wanted to eat him’, not adequately assessed A man who attacked and killed a fellow patient at a high-security psychiatric hospital because he “wanted to eat him” was not being watched properly, and had not been adequately assessed, an inquest jury ruled on Thursday. Peter Bryan “smashed” Richard Loudwell’s head on the floor at Broadmoor hospital and tied a ligature around his neck on April 25 2004, an inquest at Berkshire coroners court heard. Loudwell, 60, who was admitted to Broadmoor in January that year, was taken to Frimley Park hospital in Surrey but died 41 days later, never having regained consciousness. The jury was told Bryan had attacked a 21-year-old woman, hitting her on the head around six times with a claw hammer in 1993. He later pleaded guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility. Bryan spent eight years at Rampton hospital and was eventually allowed back into society, but later attacked and killed a man, named in reports as Brian Cherry on February 17 2004. The victim had been dismembered and officers found a frying pan on the stove with tissue from the dead man’s brain. Bryan told officers: “I ate his brains with butter. It was really nice.” The killer was admitted to Broadmoor’s Luton ward on April 15 2004, after a stay at Belmarsh prison where he was described as “unpredictable”; presenting a “grave risk to others” and “extremely dangerous”. He was put in seclusion but four days after his arrival was allowed to mingle with patients under “general observations” or 15-minute checks, the inquest was told. But just after 6pm on April 25 he attacked Loudwell in the dining room of Luton ward. At the conclusion of the inquest, the jury ruled Loudwell died of bronchopneumonia, a hypoxic brain injury, ligature strangulation and blunt trauma to the head. Recording a narrative verdict, the jury said the dining room was not adequately observed by nursing staff at the time of the attack. Jurors also found Bryan’s mental state had not been adequately examined before his release from seclusion on April 19, or between that date and the attack on April 25. “Until such a mental state examination was completed, Peter Bryan should have been on higher observations than the general level. Such failure may have contributed to Richard Loudwell’s death.” The verdict said the absence of one or more of several factors may have contributed to Loudwell’s death. These included a pre-admission nursing report, a clinical team meeting, an adequate mental state examination, a formal written risk assessment and medical staff regularly seeing Bryan when he was out of seclusion. The inquest was told there were 19 patients in Luton ward on the day of the attack on Loudwell. Nine members of staff were present for the afternoon shift. Joanne Fisher, registered mental nurse and team leader on the ward, described finding Loudwell with head injuries on the floor of the ward dining room. In a statement read by Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford, she said Bryan told her: “I got him from behind, I put a ligature around his neck so that he wouldn’t make a noise, and I smashed his head.” She added: “Mr Bryan said he had been thinking about it for a few days. He also said: ‘I wanted to eat him.’” From Fisher’s statements, the inquest heard Loudwell was “hard to work with”, “generally unco-operative” and had complained of bullying. He had gone against advice from staff not to disclose the offence for which he was in Broadmoor, the inquest heard, and one senior member of nursing staff described him as the “most unpopular patient I have ever met”, saying it was “inevitable” that “sooner or later” he would be assaulted. But according to Fisher’s statement, he had started to “interact” more and shortly before he was attacked was seen playing cards with patients. She said she was not aware of Bryan being involved in bullying Loudwell. In the jury’s narrative verdict, they said staff should have known both men were in the dining room, but “having regard to Peter Bryan’s presentation whilst in Broadmoor”, it should not have caused concern that they were in the room together. Crime guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Silvio Berlusconi faces fresh claims over parties, prostitutes and pay-outs
September 15, 2011 No Comment
Wiretap transcripts, including alleged blackmail risk, could further damage standing of Italy’s prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was on Thursday braced for a tidal wave of new and reportedly compromising allegations about his private life as prosecutors confirmed the conclusion of an investigation into the supply of prostitutes and other women for parties at his Rome residence. Court papers included a claim that the man who provided women for the parties had offered a well-known Italian actor the chance to present the annual San Remo song contest if she agreed to sleep with the 75-year-old prime minister. Manuela Arcuri, the star of a string of TV dramas, said she refused. But Berlusconi’s associates fear far more damaging material is contained in 1,000 or so wiretap transcripts made during the inquiry that could now leak to the media. The prime minister, who is not a suspect in the investigation, is already under huge pressure from several quarters. Against a background of concern that Italy risks being dragged into a Greek-style debt crisis, rumours have been circulating that investigators recorded the prime minister as he made a grossly obscene reference to the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. The chancellor’s co-operation is vital to resolving the debt crisis on the euro zone’s southern flank. Interviewed on radio, a former Berlusconi minister, Rocco Buttiglione, said he did not know if the rumour was true, but if it were “how could someone in a situation like that lead the government?” he suggested. He added: “Does he not realise that he is dramatically damaging Italy?” His was not the only voice calling on Berlusconi to step down. In a front-page editorial, Italy’s top-selling daily, Corriere della Sera, said Italy was in “a situation at the limits of sustainability”. And it asked “how long it can go on without provoking serious damage?” Police this month arrested the alleged purveyor of women for Berlusconi’s parties, Giampaolo Tarantini, and his wife, on suspicion of blackmailing the prime minister through an intermediary. In a deposition, Berlusconi insisted he made voluntary payments to the couple because they were in a “very difficult situation”. The prosecutors believe more than €500,000 (£438,000) was handed over. According to leaked wiretap transcripts published on Thursday, after it was reported that an investigation had been launched, Berlusconi told the intermediary he should stay abroad. He reportedly added: “I will of course exonerate everyone.” Prosecutors in Naples have said they believe the money was paid to prevent Tarantini contradicting the prime minister’s insistence that he was unaware the women, some of whom spent the night, were paid. The prosecutors want to question Berlusconi, but he has avoided an encounter. This week they announced that, if he continued dodging them, they would ask a judge to order the police to bring him in. The prime minister’s vulnerability to blackmail is central to another evolving scandal. It was reported this week that a witness had told prosecutors in Milan that Berlusconi was, as he once claimed, in a long-term relationship. The witness, a Moroccan belly dancer, named his live-in girlfriend as a Montenegrin, named Katarina. The weekly L’Espresso identified her as Katarina Knezevic, 20, a former “Miss Montenegro”. It said she had a twin sister, and that in 2009 the pair, both of whom are models, had been photographed in Sardinia in the company of Madonna’s former husband, Guy Ritchie. Berlusconi mentioned an unidentified lover to rebut claims of wild parties at his home outside Milan. But the witness, who said she was a reluctant participant in “Bunga Bunga” sessions, confirmed the claims, adding that, jealous of the other women present, Knezevic had thrown herself down the stairs of the prime minister’s mansion. The Moroccan woman also described how a female associate of the prime minister, who is now a member of the regional parliament of Lombardy, had been one of two who dressed as nuns before stripping down to G-strings while pole dancing. The regional lawmaker denied the claim, but was embarrassed on Wednesday when she was photographed in the Milan fashion district while wearing a top emblazoned with the words: “I’m even better without the T-shirt.” Silvio Berlusconi Italy Europe corruption index Angela Merkel John Hooper guardian.co.uk
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Easy ride vaporises for bikers as crackdown looks set to take up to 5,000 imported Harley-Davidsons off the road A Harley-Davidson is the dream of many a middle-aged, leather-loving, motorbike enthusiast, and Spaniards, especially, are in love with the US machine. But now thousands of the bikes are being ordered off the road, or running the risk of being impounded by the police. Up to 5,000 Harleys could be brought to a halt following detection of a scam used by importers. Harleys bought in the US and shipped to Spain by some importers have reportedly then been sent to privately owned MOT centres that have been willing to turn a blind eye to the legal requirements for vehicles in Spain. The police crackdown has infuriated Harley owners who, having paid upwards of €16,000 (£14,000) for their machines, claim the company is trying to stop secondhand imports so as to sell more motorbikes through its official dealers. Harley-Davidson has vigorously denied any such involvement. “The police have detected that some MOT centres are giving imported secondhand Harleys a bill of health when they have not been adapted to Spanish norms,” said a company spokesman. “It has nothing to do with us.” Some importers stress they carefully follow the guidelines. “We change everything that has to be changed and then take the bike to the MOT to make it legal to ride,” said Alfonso Martínez, a Madrid importer. “I can imagine that one or two bikes get through without being properly adapted – but not this many.” A group of owners, unable now to ride their bikes, have formed an association and hired a lawyer. Now the association and Harley are arguing over whether the secondhand imported bikes are different to, or the same as, those brought in by the company. “We understand that some people like to get bikes from the US because they think of them as more authentic,” said the company spokesman. “There is no problem with imported secondhand bikes as a whole, only with illegal ones.” Spain is one of the top markets in Europe for Harleys, which have lost much of the biker gang image they first acquired after the Hollister riot which occurred during a motorbike rally in California in July 1947. Owners have also moved on from the days of the 1969 classic road movie Easy Rider, which starred Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, and are now mostly aged in their forties or older. “In the world of leisure our competition is motorboats and golf,” Rob Lindley, managing director of Harley-Davidson Europe, told El País newspaper in a recent interview. But younger Spaniards are also now showing an interest. Barcelona has become the European city where most new Harleys are sold. Spain United States Europe Road transport Motoring Giles Tremlett guardian.co.uk
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Investigation launched into fatal shooting at Ministry of Defence ground at Lydd in Romney Marsh A 19-year-old soldier has died in a shooting incident at a military training ground. Kent police were called to the Ministry of Defence training ground in Lydd, Romney Marsh, at about 2.45pm Wednesday. The incident is being investigated by police, the army and Health and Safety Executive. An MoD spokesman also confirmed it was investigating the incident. The soldier has not been named but his next of kin have been informed. The death follows that of a 20-year-old soldier who was shot during an exercise at Lydd ranges in November 2006. Guardsman Ian Wright, who served with the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head. The ranges, which are 15 miles south of Ashford, have been used for military training for more than 150 years, according to the MoD. They are situated on reclaimed lands of the historic Romney Marsh, estimated to be between 3,000 and 5,000 years old. The ranges are used for live firing with a danger area extending out to sea. Red flags are flown during firing, when access is banned along the foreshore and Galloway’s Road. Military Ministry of Defence guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media Following a Thursday speech unveiling his plan to “liberate” the economy, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) was asked if he enjoyed his job. “Hell, no!” he exclaimed. “I’m not having any fun.” “But I am glad I’m there… I wanted to be Speaker because I wanted to lead an effort on behalf of our country. And it’s that mission that drives me every day… But I like to accomplish my mission and get the hell out of there.” Boehner later added that he never aspired to be a politician. “I always wanted to be a salesman. And eventually that’s what I did. I was in the sales and marketing business in the packaging and plastic industry. And I thought I was going to do that the rest of my life but along the way, I got involved in my neighborhood homeowners association and I ended up in the United States Congress.” UPDATE: John Amato: John Boehner threw down the tea party gauntlet this morning and said it’s his way or the highway in response to Obama’s jobs bill and what the Super Committee will be allowed to do. He dismissed tax breaks for corporations (which is a long standing ideal of conservative policy) and labeled them as gimmicks and then said only federal spending cuts (not the military of course) and attacks on our social safety nets will be permitted to move forward in his vision to help our struggling economy. It’s a destructive philosophy as the facts have bared out and the president must not buckle again to the GOP or the Villagers’ bipartisan shared sacrifice fetish. If he does offer up social safety net reforms that include benefit cuts, the 2012 elections will be a complete disaster .
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