Former Tunisian president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, found guilty of theft and possession of large sums of foreign currency The former Tunisian president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and his wife have been sentenced to 35 years in jail after being found guilty of theft in absentia by a Tunisian court. Ben Ali and his wife, Leila Trabelsi, was accused of theft and unlawful possession of large sums of foreign currency, jewellery, archaeological artefacts, drugs and weapons. The case was brought in absentia after Ben Ali fled the country on 14 January following mass protests across the country. Ben Ali, who has since said he was deceived into leaving Tunisia, has accumulated vast wealth from his involvement in some of the country’s biggest businesses during his 23-year reign. In addition to the lengthy sentences, the court ordered that the former president and his wife pay fines totalling 91m Tunisian dinars (£41m) and while the trial has moved swiftly, the court said the judgement only covered part of the charges against him and would rule on others at a later date. Husni Beji, one of five lawyers representing Ben Ali, told Reuters before the hearing started: “We are going to ask for an adjournment … I want to convince Ben Ali to attend the trial.” Judge Touhami Hafian, sitting in the palace of justice in the Tunisian capital, said earlier in the day that it was “a normal trial” but events will be closely watched by those in Egypt as former president Hosni Mubarak is set to stand trial over the killing of protesters in the Arab uprising that also ousted him from power. Ben Ali and his wife are not the only members of The Family – as they are known in Tunisia – to stand trial since the popular Arab spring protests. More than 30 members of Ben Ali and Trabelsi’s family were arrested after the fall of the Family, as they are known in Tunisia, some of whom have been since charged with economic crimes and abuse of power. Among the assets left by Ben Ali that the courts said they were seeking to recover were luxury villas as well as interests in hotels banks and pharmaceuticals. Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali Tunisia Arab and Middle East unrest Africa Jo Adetunji guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …CBS News reports on the jobless rate for African-Americans, and the figures aren’t pretty: While the national unemployment rate hovers around 9.1%, for blacks it stands at 16.2%. For black males the rate is even higher, at 17.5%. Things get even worse in NYC, where a think-tank…
Continue reading …
‘Jackass’ cast member Ryan Dunn died early Monday of injuries sustained in a fiery car crash, and speed may have been a factor, police said. (June 20)
Continue reading …
‘Jackass’ cast member Ryan Dunn died early Monday of injuries sustained in a fiery car crash, and speed may have been a factor, police said. (June 20)
Continue reading …Marshall updates Major headphone with in-line mic for more talkin’ between rockin’
June 20, 2011 No Comment
Marshall struck solid gold when it lent spare amp parts to Zound Industries ( Urbanears ) for the Major and Minor headphones, and is now releasing a remixed version of the original smash hit. The updated headset is by all means a Major headphone, but it now features an in-line remote with a mic that’s sure to please on-the-move fans of the supra-aural fit. At $119, the new cans will set you back about 20 bones more than the original, although you can’t put a price on the amount of rockstar-cred you’ll gain. The Major is available now from Marshall Headphones’ web store and at your local brick and mortar if your GASing for some new JCM -esque headgear. Gallery: Marshall Major Heaphone w/ in-line remote and mic Continue reading Marshall updates Major headphone with in-line mic for more talkin’ between rockin’ Marshall updates Major headphone with in-line mic for more talkin’ between rockin’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Marilyn Monroe’s ivory “subway dress,” the costume that contributed heavily to America’s love affair with the iconic beauty, sold for $5.6 million at an auction in Beverly Hills on Saturday. The actual bidding price for the dress was $4.6 million, but the unidentified buyer, who bid over telephone, must pay an additional $1 million commission
Continue reading …Japanese researchers have hit on a stem cell breakthrough that they say could essentially solve the organ shortages problem—but fair warning, it’s weird. By injecting stem cells from rats into the embryos of mice that had been genetically modified to be unable to grow their own organs, the researchers…
Continue reading …
Work and pensions secretary under fire from backbenchers over plans to fast-track changes to women’s pension age Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, has come under repeated fire from government backbenchers over plans to fast-track changes to the pension age that will leave 500,000 women waiting more than an extra year before they can retire with a state pension. But he refused to bow to increasing pressure from all sides of the Commons, saying there would be no change to the timetable and conceding only that he was “willing to work to get this transition right”. Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs joined Labour members in arguing against the changes, which would see the state pension age for women equalised with men at 65 in 2018, then everyone moving to 66 by 2020. The plan leaves half a million women born in 1953 and 54 with just seven years’ notice that they will have to wait more than a year longer to collect their state pension. Of those, 33,000 will have to wait a full 24 months. The Liberal Democrats Jo Swinson, Annette Brooke and Jenny Willott as well as Conservatives James Gray, Eleanor Laing and Benedict Gummer all urged the government to rethink its plans. There has been intense debate in recent days about whether the government was preparing to make concessions on the plans. Labour has claimed that the move breaches a coalition agreement promise not to make any further changes to the pension age for women before 2020. Duncan Smith acknowledged for the first time during the Commons debate that they had broken the coalition agreement – but said they had been forced to do so after receiving legal advice. Duncan Smith said: “Responsible government is not always easy government. It involves commitment, tough decisions and a willingness to stay the course. We will not change from that, we will stay the course. We will secure our children’s future. “I recognise we need to implement this fairly and manage the transition smoothly. I can hear the specific concerns about a relatively small number of women and I am willing to work to get this transition right.” Liam Byrne, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said the plans would “single out” the women affected, “and say to them, ‘You know your plans for the future? Well you can put those in the bin’.” The head of the union Unison, Dave Prentis, will tell his annual conference in Manchester that women are facing a double burden on pensions, with the government fast-tracking the state pension changes at the same time as proposing radical changes to public sector pensions, the majority of which are collected by women. Prentis warned last week that the government could face the biggest strikes since the general strike of 1926 over changes to make public sector workers work longer. David Cameron ruled out any fundamental changes to the plans for public sector pensions. He said there was “no question of climbing down”. “We are not aiming for confrontation, we don’t want confrontation but we have to reform public service pensions to make them long-term affordable,” he said. “We owe that to taxpayers at a time of great difficulty with public finances that we inherited. But we are looking to a system that is a good public sector pension system where people who work in the public sector can have confidence they have very strong pensions.” Crucial negotiations between ministers and the unions are expected to resume on Monday, ahead of a walk-out next Thursday, 30 June, by three unions. That strike is expected to bring many schools, colleges, ports, courts and job centres to a standstill. New research has given the first gauge of current public support for strikes, revealing that a slight majority of people support industrial action to protect pay and conditions. The poll by Populus revealed that 54% of people said they supported the right to strike to protect pay and conditions, but fewer – 46% – would support strikes against the government’s general direction. There would be most sympathy with the uniformed services if they strike. Some 60% would be sympathetic with striking nurses, 55% with striking fire-fighters and 38% for striking teachers compared with just 17% who would be sympathetic to striking flight attendants, 29% of central government workers and 28% of train drivers. Public sector pensions Public services policy Pensions Iain Duncan Smith Women Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Move follows government decision to integrate cash for special schools into the mainstream school funding grant More than 20 schools for children with special needs have suffered a £1m cut in government funding, which will lead to cutbacks in provision, affecting services such as translating books into braille and helping children with disruptive behaviour. The cut affects private special schools that received money for programmes involving children at state schools. The schools affected have suffered individual cuts ranging from £45,000 to £145,000. They include the West of England school and college in Exeter, which caters for pupils with visual impairment, and St Vincent’s school in Liverpool, a specialist school for children with sensory impairment. Claire Dorer, chief executive of the National Association of Independent Schools and Non-Maintained Special Schools (NASS), said that in terms of overall education funding, the £1m cut was a “drop in the ocean” for the Department of Education. The cut follows a government decision to integrate cash for special schools into the mainstream school funding grant. When local authorities divided up the money it emerged that grants to private special schools had been overlooked when the department allocated the money, Dorer said. She added: “They are publicly funded schools – local authorities choose to place pupils in them when they can’t meet needs locally. They are not for profit. “This money was supporting our schools in getting their highly specialised services in particular areas of special needs into other schools. It’s partnership and outreach with maintained and mainstream special schools. “Pupils in our schools will be relatively unaffected. Pupils in the maintained sector will be affected because this help is going to have to cease.” Dorer said the West of England school had lost funding for pioneering work looking at how to preserve and develop visual function in affected children. The 21 schools have been offered £15,000 each, which would not sustain their outreach projects and could result in redundancies, the NASS said. In a letter to the NASS, education secretary Michael Gove said: “My department has found itself in an exceptional financial situation as a result of the need to focus on reducing the national deficit and to do so as quickly as possible. “Given the decision not to provide specific funding to maintained specialist schools, we concluded that it would not be appropriate to continue to provide such funding for [non-maintained specialist schools].” In the letter, Gove said he realised schools would face “very difficult decisions” as a result of the funding cut. Last week the Financial Times reported that many academies had been given excessive funding by the department. Errors had led to some councils being over-funded by as much as an extra £300 per pupil, worth around £300,000 a year to the average secondary academy. The department admitted there had been errors submitted by councils, but blamed an over-complex funding system. The shadow education secretary, Andy Burnham, said last weekend that Gove had “caved in” to a legal claim by 23 councils that too much money had been taken from their budgets to pay for academies. Education policy Disability Michael Gove Jeevan Vasagar guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Move follows government decision to integrate cash for special schools into the mainstream school funding grant More than 20 schools for children with special needs have suffered a £1m cut in government funding, which will lead to cutbacks in provision, affecting services such as translating books into braille and helping children with disruptive behaviour. The cut affects private special schools that received money for programmes involving children at state schools. The schools affected have suffered individual cuts ranging from £45,000 to £145,000. They include the West of England school and college in Exeter, which caters for pupils with visual impairment, and St Vincent’s school in Liverpool, a specialist school for children with sensory impairment. Claire Dorer, chief executive of the National Association of Independent Schools and Non-Maintained Special Schools (NASS), said that in terms of overall education funding, the £1m cut was a “drop in the ocean” for the Department of Education. The cut follows a government decision to integrate cash for special schools into the mainstream school funding grant. When local authorities divided up the money it emerged that grants to private special schools had been overlooked when the department allocated the money, Dorer said. She added: “They are publicly funded schools – local authorities choose to place pupils in them when they can’t meet needs locally. They are not for profit. “This money was supporting our schools in getting their highly specialised services in particular areas of special needs into other schools. It’s partnership and outreach with maintained and mainstream special schools. “Pupils in our schools will be relatively unaffected. Pupils in the maintained sector will be affected because this help is going to have to cease.” Dorer said the West of England school had lost funding for pioneering work looking at how to preserve and develop visual function in affected children. The 21 schools have been offered £15,000 each, which would not sustain their outreach projects and could result in redundancies, the NASS said. In a letter to the NASS, education secretary Michael Gove said: “My department has found itself in an exceptional financial situation as a result of the need to focus on reducing the national deficit and to do so as quickly as possible. “Given the decision not to provide specific funding to maintained specialist schools, we concluded that it would not be appropriate to continue to provide such funding for [non-maintained specialist schools].” In the letter, Gove said he realised schools would face “very difficult decisions” as a result of the funding cut. Last week the Financial Times reported that many academies had been given excessive funding by the department. Errors had led to some councils being over-funded by as much as an extra £300 per pupil, worth around £300,000 a year to the average secondary academy. The department admitted there had been errors submitted by councils, but blamed an over-complex funding system. The shadow education secretary, Andy Burnham, said last weekend that Gove had “caved in” to a legal claim by 23 councils that too much money had been taken from their budgets to pay for academies. Education policy Disability Michael Gove Jeevan Vasagar guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …