The Heygate estate in Walworth, which was the backdrop for the Michael Caine film Harry Brown, is being redeveloped Demolition teams were set to move in on one of Britain’s best known housing estates. The dismantling of the sprawling Heygate estate in Walworth, south-east London was due to start on Friday. The Heygate estate is close to the Aylesbury estate, which Tony Blair visited hours after his 1997 election victory. In his first leadership speech he described the residents as the “forgotten people” and pledged to tackle social exclusion in the area. More recently, Heygate was the backdrop for the 2009 Michael Caine film Harry Brown . The destruction of the Heygate estate is part of a £1.5bn regeneration project in Elephant and Castle, an area widely considered as one of London’s eyesores. It aims to transform it into “a brand-new town centre” over the next 15 years. Southwark Council said the 98 units on the Rodney Road side of the estate will be “carefully and meticulously” dismantled within hours. This will be followed by further demolition in the next few weeks before some of the larger blocks are brought down in May. The entire estate, which is one of the largest in Europe, will be demolished in less than a year. Rob Deck, Lend Lease project director for Elephant and Castle, said: “The demolition of the Heygate estate is a major milestone in the scheme to rejuvenate Elephant and Castle. “This is one of the most significant regeneration projects in Europe and Lend Lease will be working in partnership with Southwark Council to transform this area of London into a vibrant place for people from all backgrounds to live, work and recreate.” The estate comprises six concrete blocks which, alongside smaller groups of maisonettes, stretch along several roads in Elephant and Castle. It was home to more than 3,000 people before residents were rehoused around the borough in 2008, leaving the site a virtual ghost town. Many residents were reported to be against the demolition, arguing that it was unnecessary as living conditions in the flats were still good. Now only 11 dwellings are occupied, mainly by leaseholders who are still negotiating leaving terms with the council. The enormous blocks were designed in the 1960s by architect Tim Tinker and construction was completed in the early 1970s. At the time, the buildings were futuristic and were designed to offer a utopian ideal where communal living provided a social hub for those who were first to benefit from the postwar welfare state. But Southwark Council says the estate has become increasingly expensive to maintain and heat and, in today’s standards, it is “no longer an ideal place for people to live”. Councillor Fiona Colley, who is a cabinet member for regeneration, said: “It’s hard to describe what a monumentally huge project the Heygate estate regeneration is. What comes next is what so many people in the borough are anticipating – the emergence of brand-new, warm, safe homes for all.” Housing Regeneration London Communities Local government Architecture guardian.co.uk
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Ante Gotovina accused over ‘ethnic cleansing’ of 90,000 Serbs in trial seen as an examination of Croatia’s Balkan war strategy Judges in The Hague will on Friday deliver their most important verdict on Croatia’s conduct in the war against the Serbs in the 1990s, ruling after a three-year criminal trial on whether Zagreb prosecuted a policy of terror and murder to drive out the large Serbian minority. A decade after he was indicted for the “ethnic cleansing” of at least 90,000 Serbs from Croatia in 1995, Ante Gotovina, a commander in the storming of Serbian strongholds that changed the course of the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, is to learn his fate at the international war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The verdict is keenly awaited in the Balkans, and with great nervousness in nowhere more so than Zagreb. The influential Roman Catholic church has been calling for prayers and fasting in the hope of an acquittal. Marches and “pilgrimages” have been organised. The Croatian prime minister, Jadranka Kosor, is urging “calm and dignity” as thousands of former fighters prepare to vent their spleen if Gotovina and two former fellow ex-commanders are found guilty. Huge screens were being erected in Zagreb on Thursday night to transmit the verdict live from The Hague. While it has focused mainly on Gotovina and his two fellow accused, the trial looms larger because it has provided the main opportunity to examine the strategy and conduct of the hardline nationalist leadership of Croatia during the war. The decisive political leaders such as president Franjo Tudjman, defence minister Gojko Šušak, and army chief Janko Bobetko all died before they could face trial. The Gotovina case has served as a substitute. A former French legionnaire who returned to Croatia when the war erupted in 1991, Gotovina commanded the central operations that won the war for Croatia in August 1995, retaking the strategic town of Knin in the Dalmatian hinterland that was – the seat of a four-year-old Serbian insurgency that left Croatia crippled and partitioned. He was indicted for war crimes in 2001. Tipped off by contacts in the Croatian government, he went on the run for four years until he was arrested in a Tenerife hotel at the end of 2005. For years the Croatian government had blocked attempts to locate him until it performed a u-turn to unlock negotiations on joining the European Union. Gotovina, along with Ivan Cermak, the Knin garrison commander, and Mladen Markac, a commander of police paramilitaries, faced nine counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for overseeing the alleged deportation of tens of thousands of Serbs through murder, the torching of homes, and the shelling of civilians. The prosecution claims the trio implemented a calculated policy of expulsion ordered by the Tudjman regime aimed at permanently ridding Croatia of the large Serbian minority community that had been resident there for centuries , the prosecution contended. The defence ridiculed the argument, calling it a web of conspiracy theories, and claimed that the Serbian mass exodus was orchestrated by Serbian authorities locally and in Belgrade. For many Croats, especially those on the right, Gotovina is a national hero. Catholic bishops this week denounced the tribunal, accusing it of deliberately confusing victim and aggressor. The prime minister described the August 2005 operations as part of “a just and liberating war.”. Operation Storm, which climaxed with the reconquest of Knin and the Serbian exodus, was prosecuted at lightning speed, highly successfully with strong US backing. It represented the denouement to the four-year war. A fortnight earlier at Srebrenica in Bosnia, the Serbs had committed the worst massacre of the Yugoslav wars, murdering almost 8,000 Muslim males. Following the Croatian rout of the Serbian rebels, the war was over, Croatia’s independence secured, and Bosnia’s fragile peace pact was struck three months later. After the victory, Croatian forces went on the rampage, torching the homes of elderly Serbs who had not fled. The prosecution argued that the trio were to blame for not preventing the murder of 324 civilians, and demanded a 27-year sentence for Gotovina, 23 years for Cermak and 17 years for Markac. Croatia Serbia Europe War crimes Ian Traynor guardian.co.uk
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We had to check but the Charlie Chaplin tribute isn’t the first video doodle to grace the Google home page. That honor was bestowed upon John Lennon to celebrate his 70th birthday. His video, however, was just an animation whereas Google’s latest doodle dials up the frame rate to recreate the lovable tramp’s antics in a very Google way. Just remember: a $2 muffin from 100 years ago would cost about $47 today without AdSense support. The video doodle’s only available from the Google Australia home page but we expect that to change just as soon as the Earth completes its rotation. Video after the break. Continue reading Google video doodle celebrates Charlie Chaplin’s 122nd birthday Google video doodle celebrates Charlie Chaplin’s 122nd birthday originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Apr 2011 04:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Tokyo Electric Power ordered to pay ¥1m to families forced from their homes due to nuclear crisis after quake and tsunami Japan’s government has ordered the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to compensate tens of thousands of households forced to evacuate due to radiation leaks. As many as 50,000 households within 30km (19 miles) of the plant will be eligible for provisional damages, which have been set at ¥1m (£7,300) per family and ¥750,000 for single-person households. The bill will reach ¥50bn, the president of Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), Masataka Shimizu, told reporters. Additional compensation claims expected from farmers and fishermen who have had their livelihoods destroyed could see the total rise much higher. Tens of thousands of people were forced to leave last month after the government evacuated areas within 20km of the facility, where engineers are still confronted with huge amounts of radioactive water and overheating reactors. Earlier this week the government said it would expand the no-go zone to five communities further from the plant where radiation levels could pose a long-term threat to health. The firm has come under mounting pressure to compensate residents forced to move to evacuation centres around the country. With no end in sight to the crisis, government officials are unable to say when or if the residents will be able to return. Processing the payments is expected to take time given the geological spread of evacuees, but Japan’s trade ministry insisted the payments would be made “as soon as possible”. “There are around 150 evacuation centres, so it will take time until everyone gets their money,” the trade minister, Banri Kaieda, said. “But we want the company to support those people quickly.” Meanwhile, health officials have been advised to collect blood from the hundreds of plant workers operating in hazardous areas in case they require stem cell transplants due to exposure to dangerous levels of radiation. Writing in the medical research journal Lancet, Japanese experts said the blood samples would provide a source of stem cells that could be used to rebuild bone marrow in the event of accidental exposure. “The danger of a future accidental radiation exposure is not passed, since there has been a series of serious aftershocks even this April,” wrote Dr Shuichi Taniguchi, of Toranomon hospital in Tokyo, and Dr Tetsuya Tanimoto, of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research. Collecting blood from the workers would rule out the need to find matching donors, whose cells could be rejected, and minimise the chances of infection. Japan’s nuclear safety commission has so far resisted calls to harvest blood to avoid causing panic among the workers, the men claimed. On Thursday, police officers in protective suits, goggles and gloves, entered areas within 10km of the plant to recover the bodies of people who had been left where they died in last month’s earthquake and tsunami. By Friday, police said they had identified 10 bodies and were working to free them from the debris. There are thought to be as many as 1,000 bodies inside the zone. The agreement to pay compensation comes as speculation grows over Tepco’s future. The company is the most reviled in Japan, but the government appears to have concluded that it cannot be allowed to fail. The Nikkei business newspaper said the government was considering setting up a state-backed insurance fund to keep the firm afloat and enable it to pay damages. The government would pay the bill initially, with the utility expected to repay the sum over several years. Full nationalisation of the firm now appears unlikely. Tepco has lost more than three-quarters of its market value over the past five weeks and JP Morgan estimates it could be saddled with a compensation bill of up to ¥2tn in the current financial year. Bank of America-Merrill Lynch warned the total damages payout could soar to $130bn (£80bn) unless there is a quick end to the crisis. Other ideas being floated would cap Tepco’s liabilities at between ¥2tn to ¥3.8tn and spread the remaining costs among the state and other utilities. Japan disaster Japan Nuclear power Energy Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
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Credit ratings agency Moody’s warns Ireland may need to take further austerity measures The euro dropped against the dollar after credit ratings agency Moody’s delivered another negative verdict on Ireland on Friday morning. Moody’s cut Ireland’s rating by two notches to Baa3 and left the outlook negative. The agency said the country may need to take further austerity measures to meet its fiscal goals and that its financial position could suffer because of higher European Central Bank interest rates. “Should the intended fiscal consolidation goals not be met, a further rating downgrade would likely follow,” Moody’s warned. “Moreover, a further deterioration in the country’s economic outlook would also exert downward pressure on the rating.” The euro fell to a session low against the dollar this morning, down 0.2% to $1.4450. Gary Jenkins at Evolution Securities described the new rating as “possibly the most uncomfortable of places to be on the ratings scale – one false step from junk”. In contrast, Fitch affirmed its rating at BBB+ yesterday, took Ireland off its negative watch and assigned a negative outlook after the Irish banking stress tests which the agency described as credible, noting that the economy appeared to be nearing stabilisation. S&P rates Ireland BBB+ with a stable outlook. Global economy Economics Ratings agencies Financial sector Ireland Europe Europe Euro Currencies Euro Julia Kollewe guardian.co.uk
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An Oregon mother says she’s shocked to learn that the father of her two autistic sons has been accused of caging the boys in his apartment. Photos of the boys were not altered by the Associated Press. (April 14)
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A former UN weapons inspector nabbed in an online sex sting was convicted on six counts, including unlawful contact with a minor. Prosecutors say Scott Ritter exchanged explicit messages with a detective posing as a 15-year-old girl. (Apr. 15)
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Ten years ago, the web was honeycombed with porn infiltrating search results at the most unexpected times–a problem Google had to face developing a spam-free search engine. In his new book In The Plex, author Steven Levy describes the method Google used to rid itself of early porn spammers. Though engineer Matt Cutts developed SafeSearch in 2000, a product to filter pornography from search, some sites still slipped the block. So how did Google deal with the unwanted naked spam? “Google asked Cutts how he felt about porn,” writes Levy. “He’d have to see a lot of it to produce a system to filter it out of Google.” Though Cutts tried to get his co-workers to help him find porn sites to filter, they were simply too busy. So he upped the ante. After complaining to his wife that “No one will help me look for porn!” she volunteered to bake chocolate chip cookies for those that found porn that escape Cutts’ filter. And so, Look for Porn day was born, catered by the cookies of Cutt’s wife. “She’s still known as the porn cookie lady at Google,” he recalls in the book. Big porn sites were accepting of the move–they didn’t want 12-year-old girls stumbling into their pleasure palaces accidentally, either. But other porn sites took it as a challenge and found ways to game the system and up their page rankings. “It was an eye-opening moment,” Cutts said. “Page-Rank and link analysis may be spam-resistant, but nothing is spam-proof.” It was an early example of a phenomenon representing a new and more complicated problem for Google: the use of Search Engine Optimization in artificially boosting page rank. That issue is one Google still grapples with today.
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NINE (Rob Marshall) – Movie Film News with Marion Cotillard, Daniel Day-Lewis, Javier Bardem and Joel & Ethan Coen Film News with Daniel Day-Lewis Now it's Sally Field and Daniel Day Lewis in Spielberg's Lincoln … Steven Spielberg’s long-delayed Abraham Lincoln bio-pic just landed a Mary Todd Lincoln. Sally Field, 64, will play the 45-47 year old first lady. Daniel Day Lewis , 53, will play the 53-56 Abe in the years 1863-65 or thereabouts. … Daniel Day-Lewis To Play Abraham LincolnMy Daily Buzz | My Daily Buzz Related: Daniel Day-Lewis , Liam Neeson, Munich, Steven Spielberg, Celebrity, MoviesMorePhoto Credits: PR Photos Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj & Other Stars Dress As Pin-Up Girls For ‘Salute The Troops’ PromoJeff Goldblum Refused Restraining … Sally Field to Join Daniel Day-Lewis in Steven Spielbergs … daniel day lewis . Theater News: Sally Field to Join Daniel Day-Lewis in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln Movie: by Andy Propst on TheaterMania.com. Share Tweet Insider Comments: –There are no comments posted yet. … daniel day lewis | All Hot USA As you know, the hottie favorite, Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Mary Todd in Abraham Lincoln: “Vampire Hunter” because the audience for the fil… Sally Field to join Spielberg and Daniel Day Lewis in 'Lincoln … Sally Field to join Spielberg and Daniel Day Lewis in ‘Lincoln’ David Creegan Oscar-winner Sally Fields has been cast to play the part of Mary Todd in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming drama Lincoln . According to Entertainment Weekly Field … CharlesFisher3 says: Sally Fields to Play Mary Todd Lincoln Beside Daniel Day-Lewis http://bit.ly/eIJw3D
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