During her first solo tour of Asia, Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins takes time out to talk about her recent engagement and reveals her excitement for the upcoming royal wedding. (March 21)
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Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev has said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s description of the UN resolution on Libya is “unacceptable”. The rare rebuke came hours after Mr Putin criticised the resolution, which authorised military action to protect Libyan civilians. Mr Putin…
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It’s easy to remember working with @jack, @ev, and our tiny team on a project we called Twitter like it was last week. Amazingly, it’s five years ago today that the first tweet was sent. Over these years, Twitter has matured and made an impact in the areas of social responsibility, politics, sports, media, and more. The people who use Twitter have made it what it is today, and on our fifth birthday,… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Twitter Blog Discovery Date : 21/03/2011 09:50 Number of articles : 4
Continue reading …Security firm to provide 10,000 guards to patrol London Games venues in 2012 Organisers of the 2012 Olympic games have signed a £100m deal with the security firm G4S to provide 10,000 guards to patrol venues during the event. Under the £757m security plan developed for the Games, the government is responsible for policing outside the venues and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games must provide security inside the park in east London. Mark Hamilton, G4S’s managing director of security services for the Games, said it would dwarf similar events in terms of size and complexity. “Nothing compares to the Olympic Games in scale and complexity. But we’ve got decades of experience managing large-scale events such as Wimbledon, the Grand National at Wembley, music festivals and the G20 summit in London,” he said. “This is where the breadth of our experience comes in, in particular across the field of sports. We’re well versed with managing security needs for large sporting events and understand the need for maintaining the visiting experience. It’s about making sure staff are aware this is a unique visitor experience.” Like the police, the company’s staff will have to walk the line between tight security and a welcoming atmosphere. Hamilton also said the company was working on new methods of reducing queuing time by ensuring that entrance searches were conducted as quickly as possible. But the appointment of G4S could prove controversial if the Crown Prosecution Service decides to pursue a case of corporate manslaughter against the company. Last week it emerged that Scotland Yard is considering charging G4S over the death of an Angolan deportee . Passengers on the British Airways flight in October told police they saw three G4S guards heavily restraining Jimmy Mubenga, who had been complaining of breathing difficulties before he collapsed. The guards were later arrested and have been bailed until 4 May. They could face manslaughter charges. However, sources with knowledge of the case have said police are also considering passing a file to the CPS recommending a corporate manslaughter charge against G4S. The company earns more than £600m from the UK government for services including the running of four prisons, three immigration removal centres and 675 court and police cells, and is the second-largest private employer in the world, boasting a £7bn turnover. G4S said in a statement last week: “As this is the subject of an on-going investigation, we are unable to comment as this time. We can confirm that G4S has received no approach at this time from the authorities in relation to the company’s position and potential liabilities. Olympic Games 2012 G4S G4S London Owen Gibson Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk
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• Military action against Libya to continue into third night • Disputes over whether Gaddafi is a legitimate target • Four New York Times journalists freed • Read our latest summary of events • Read our latest Libya news story 6.50pm: Another picture has emerged of the New York Times journalists, including a Briton, who were freed earlier today. It shows them taking cover in a construction pipe near Ben Jawat, Libya, on 6 March before they were captured. Another Briton is among four al-Jazeera journalists who are still being held in Libya. The prime minister, David Cameron, praised the work of journalists in Libya in the House of Commons this afternoon. 6.42pm: Our political editor, Patrick Wintour, has more on the apparent differences between the British military leadership and their political masters over the legality of taking out Gaddafi. He says Downing Street has appeared to side with the defence secretary Liam Fox against the chief of the defence staff Sir David Richards, by saying the removal of Gaddafi through military targeting is lawful under the UN security council resolution, if Gaddafi is threatening civilian lives. Earlier Richards had said Gaddafi “is absolutely not a target”. But Patrick points out that the Downing Street spokesman has taken a different line. The PM’s spokesman said: “The security council resolution provides for a wide range of action – all necessary measures – but that action must be in the pursuit of the objectives that are set out, and obviously we will act according to that security council resolution and any action we take and any targets will be legitimate targets. One of the objectives of the resolution is the protection of civilians”. He stressed the resolution did not give legal authority to bring about Gaddafi’s removal of power by military means. The stated objective is a no-fly zone and protection of civilians. He added: “Our targets will be chosen to meet those objectives – prevent attacks on civilians and achieve a no-fly zone – but we will not be giving a running commentary on those targets.” The dispute over the interpretation of the security council resolution goes beyond an argument inside the British government and has implications for the breadth of Arab and international support. The US defence secretary Robert Gates had said it is unwise to describe Gaddafi as a legitimate target, and many Arabs fear the west may be going beyond establishing a no-fly zone and is instead making regime change an objective of the current coalition military offensive, rather than a broad policy aspiration of the government. 6.30pm: Good evening and welcome to our continuing coverage of events in Libya. You can catch up with earlier coverage here . • The legality of targeting Gaddafi appears to be causing differences of opinion in Britain and the US. Downing Street has briefed that while removing the Libyan leaders is not an aim of the UN resolution, were it to be necessary to do so in order to fulfil the resolution’s aim of protecting civilians, it would be legal. But the US Army’s General Carter Ham said attacking the Libyan leader was not part of his mission and Britain’s General Sir David Richards, said Gaddafi was “absolutely not” a target and “it is not allowed under the UN resolution”. • The Commons debate on the situation in Libya is ongoing. David Cameron told MPs coalition forces have largely neutralised Libyan air defences. He said action had come “in the nick of time”. Cameron said that Britain thought Libya would be better off without Colonel Gaddafi, but that it was only intervening militarily to enforce the UN resolution and that the Libyans would have to decide Gaddafi’s fate. Andrew Sparrow’s full coverage of the debate continues here. • Military sources have told the Guardian that action will continue against the Libyan regime for a third night, as more details of earlier operations have been revealed. Last night the military coalition imposing the no-fly zone flew 70 to 80 sorties and fired 10 to 12 missiles. An RAF Tornado bombing run over Libya was aborted as civilians and journalists were identified within the target area – specifically a CNN journalist reporting live at the time. • Vladimir Putin has compared the UN resolution authorising military action in Libya to “medieval calls for crusades”. The Russian prime minister said: “The resolution is defective and flawed” … “It allows everything.” Russia abstained from voting on the resolution. • Four New York Times journalists being held in Libya have been freed. The paper said the Libyan authorities had released Anthony Shadid, Tyler Hicks, Lynsey Addario and Stephen Farrell. They have now left the country. Four al-Jazeera journalists, including a Briton, are still being held. Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Military Muammar Gaddafi Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk
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Spartanburg, South Carolina officials say a miniature train was in its first day of operation for the season when it overturned, killing a 6-year-old boy and sending dozens of children and parents to the hospital. (March 21)
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A Texas construction worker badly disfigured in a power line accident two years ago has received the nation’s first full face transplant at a Boston hospital. More than 30 medical personnel participated in the 15-hour operation. (March 21)
Continue reading …There is a writer who actually believes that Sarah Palin has a coherent foreign-policy doctrine, and uses Ahmed Chalabi — the scam artist who helped George W. Bush sucker the rest of us into invading Iraq — as a credible source of information. His name is Benyamin Korn: The call by the Arab League for Western military intervention in an Arab state — in this case asking that a UN “no-fly zone” be imposed over Libya – is not only without precedent but it puts in formal terms what Governor Palin stated three weeks ago should have been America’s response to the political and humanitarian crisis now unfolding there. The former GOP vice presidential candidate was being interviewed on February 23rd on national television by Sean Hannity on a range of issues. On the Libya crisis, she proposed a no-fly zone to protect the armed and un-armed opposition to the Qaddafi regime. Mrs. Palin’s formulation had been blogged about for nearly a week when it was echoed by the man who, before the Iraq war, had led the Iraq democratic movement in exile, Ahmed Chalabi. A long-time foe of Saddam Hussein who has emerged as a leading figure in Iraq’s democratically elected legislature. Mr Chalabi recounted in the Wall Street Journal how President George H. W. Bush’s 1991 call for a popular uprising against Saddam had been heeded by the Iraqi people, only to have Saddam then murder some 30,000 of them from helicopter gunships while the Western world stood by. Not again, Mr. Chalabi pleaded in his essay, and explicitly demanded a Libyan no-fly zone. But it now it seems Qaddafi will be allowed to repeat a Saddam-style repression, even as President Obama, and the rest of what he likes to call the international community, is “watching carefully.” Mrs. Palin also continues to link America’s energy policy — a realm in which she has experience — and U.S. foreign and anti-terrorism policies. She recognizes that the ongoing transfer of billions of U.S. petro-dollars to unstable or even hostile Mideast regimes has, since the formation in 1973 of the Organization of Petoleum Exporting Countries, been an drain on U.S. financial resources. In a critique of Mr. Obama’s energy policies published yesterday at about the same time the Arab League was adopting her prescription for a Libya no-fly zone, Mrs. Palin laid out how the president’s “war on domestic oil and gas exploration and production has caused us pain at the pump, endangered our already sluggish economic recovery, and threatened our national security.” Nor is Gov. Palin’s insight into complex international issues limited to areas of her immediate expertise … read on Chalabi is the opportunist hack who misled our media into transmitting the phony arguments that supported George Bush’s war against Iraq. He’s like a Zombie that doesn’t die . Once the Villagers trust a liar of the highest order like Chalabi to mislead a nation into one of the worst foreign policy decisions in the history of America, don’t be surprised if they let him do it again. And Benyamin Korn actually attaches his lies to this new “Palin Doctrine.” It’s simply remarkable. The word expertise and Palin mix as well as oil and water. The views attributed to Palin are nothing more than typical right-wing talking points — the point of parody. At first I thought it was written by The Onion . (h/t Jason)
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Let’s face it: police blotters can be one of the most entertaining parts of a newspaper, when they’re funny. Who doesn’t love stories of crime gone wrong or police getting called into highly ridiculous situations? We can’t verify the validity of all of these hilarious news briefs, but we can guarantee you’ll get a kick out of them. Vote for your favorite!
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One week later, customers are still thronging to retail stores in search of an iPad 2 to call their own. By now, the early adopters have unboxed their gleaming tablets and are busy acquainting themselves with the tablet’s new features. While reviewers raved about the iPad 2, some users at home noticed a few problems with the tablet almost immediately. The iPad 2 starts at $499, but scalpers are selling the device for much, much more. So before you head out to pick up one for yourself, take a look through our slideshow of the iPad 2′s most commonly reported problems so far–from screen discoloration to connectivity issues. Vote for complaints that you find most grievous, and share your own complaints with us by clicking “Add a slide.” You can also view a slideshow of the 7 reasons not to buy an iPad 2 and find out about 7 alternatives to Apple’s new tablet.
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