State school pupils receive 58.5% of offers for 2011 admissions Oxford is on course to have the highest ever proportion of state school pupils in its undergraduate intake this autumn, publishing figures on Friday showing that just 41.5% of offers were made to private school candidates. State school pupils received 58.5% of offers. Based on previous years, the proportion of state school pupils accepted is likely to be around 1% lower than this figure. The increased share of offers reflects a rise in applications from state-educated children, which reached 64.3% for entry this autumn. Universities in England have been told they could be stripped of the right to charge higher fees if they fail to attract a wider mix of students including state school pupils, ethnic minorities and teenagers from areas with no tradition of going on to higher education. The sharpest disparity between state and private school success is at Oxford, where nearly 47% of the intake are privately educated. But 13 of the 16 English Russell Group universities are below existing benchmarks. The university’s director of undergraduate admissions, Mike Nicholson, said: “We are pleased that figures for 2010 and preliminary offer figures for 2011 show the proportion of state students gradually rising. We believe this shows the great amount of effort and energy we have put into our outreach work is paying off.” As a whole, applications to Oxford rose to a record high of 17,300 for 2011 entry. Applications from state school candidates have increased by 73% over the past decade compared with a 31% rise from the private school pupils who have traditionally dominated Oxbridge. The university also published figures on Friday for admissions in the current academic year, which showed that seven black Caribbean students were accepted out of 40 who applied. In autumn 2009, just one black Caribbean student was accepted out of 35. The admissions figures for 2010 entry show that 55.4% of Oxford’s British undergraduate intake was state-educated. Nearly a quarter went to comprehensive schools, compared with less than 20% for the year starting in autumn 2009. Oxford argues that poor attainment at school level presents a major challenge to its aspiration to admit the best candidates, pointing out that independent school students make up a third of all those getting 3 As at A-level. The university also says the focus on the type of school obscures the fact that some poor children are privately educated. Oxford published a breakdown of figures for 2009/10, which showed that 935 students came from families with household incomes below £16,190, the earnings threshold for free school meals. Of these, 295 had been educated in private schools. Nicholson said: “Household income is one important measure, and it does not correlate in an obvious way with school type. “Our figures show that nearly one in ten of our students come from households in the lowest income bracket. Those students went to a range of school types, confirming that state/independent does not equal poor/rich.” Nicholson contrasted this statistic with figures based on pupils who received free school meals. Less than 1% of the intake at the most selective universities, including Oxbridge, were pupils on free school meals, according to a study by the charity the Sutton Trust . He said: “There are very many more students from low-income backgrounds than there are students who were on free school meals – not everyone on the lowest incomes is eligible, and not everyone takes them up.” The breakdown of household income for 2009/10 show that nearly 73% of Oxford’s intake that year were students from households with an income above £50,000. This is the cut-off point for a government maintenance grant. The latest admissions figures show high success rates for candidates who attended Oxford’s summer school for state school pupils. More than 40% of summer school students received offers – a success rate nearly double that of all applicants. University of Oxford Access to university Higher education Jeevan Vasagar guardian.co.uk
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Robert Gates calls for on-going commitment from coalition countries as Pentagon set to withdraw as few as 2,000 troops The Obama administration has begun to lower expectations of a significant withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in July and warned European allies against pulling out their forces too soon. Speaking at a meeting of the 48 countries contributing troops to Afghanistan, the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, expressed concern that some European countries were talking too much about leaving rather than finishing the job. Gates, who was in Afghanistan earlier this week as part of an assessment of how many US troops could be withdrawn in July, said he was worried that security gains in Afghanistan “could be threatened by ill-timed, precipitous or unco-ordinated national drawdown” by countries contributing troops. When Barack Obama announced in December 2009 an increase in the number of US troops in Afghanistan from 70,000 to 100,000 , he wrung a promise from the Pentagon that a withdrawal would begin in July this year. Facing an election next year for a second presidential term, there was an expectation he would seek a headline-grabbing figure such as 20,000 to signal to the American public that the exit was in sight. But the Pentagon is likely to recommend a figure closer to 2,000 than 20,000. With troops spread over a wide geographical area and facing a Taliban offensive in the spring and summer, the US commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, is looking for a limited withdrawal. This is possible because Afghanistan is not a major political issue in the US and does not arouse the same passions as Iraq. Speaking at Nato headquarters on Friday, Gates told other defence ministers there was a need for unity and commitment to maintain progress in Afghanistan. “Unfortunately, some recent rhetoric coming from capitals on this continent is calling into question that resolve. Frankly, there is too much talk about leaving and not enough talk about getting the job done right,” Gates told his fellow defence ministers. “Too much discussion of exit and not enough discussion about continuing the fight. Too much concern about when and how many troops might redeploy, and not enough about what needs to be done before they leave.” Gates did not specify which capitals he had in mind. Politicians in Poland, Denmark, Germany and Italy have spoken about troop withdrawals. The warning from Gates reflects US concern that European countries will use the July withdrawal as an opportunity to make their own reductions. The US does not want a repeat of Iraq, where coalition partners drew out early, leaving America on its own. Poland is due to pull out its 2,600 troops by 2012, Canada is set to withdraw its 2,900 troops by the end of the year and Denmark, with 748 troops, is due to cut about 100. All US and allied combat troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by 2014. Although David Cameron expressed hopes in December of early withdrawals of British troops, Britain was not among the countries targeted by Gates in his remarks. It is not unusual for US defence and diplomatic leaders to visit Europe and criticise allies for failing to provide more troops, helicopters or financial support. But Gates was blunter than usual. Due to retire later this year, he has been increasingly outspoken, in Washington as well as overseas. The meeting was closed to the press but the Pentagon provided a transcript of Gates’s comments. “Thanks to the progress we have made, we are setting the right circumstances to begin to reduce some of those US surge forces in July 2011, but will do that based on conditions on the ground and in co-ordination with Nato. We will not sacrifice the significant gains made to date, or the lives lost, for a political gesture,” he said. “In return, we expect the same from your nations. Let me be clear – unco-ordinated national drawdowns would risk the gains made to date. Considerations about any drawdown of forces must be driven by security conditions and the Isaf [International Security Assistance Force] commander’s [Petraeus's] operational needs, and not by mathematical calculation shaped by political concerns.” He called for the countries at the meeting to raise €1bn (£862m) annually to support the Afghan security forces. US military Afghanistan US foreign policy Military United States Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
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Unions plan 2012 election counter-attack after weeks of protests that drew tens of thousands Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin, succeeded on Friday in taking away nearly all collective bargaining rights from the vast majority of the state’s public employees, delivering an epic defeat to the labour movement. Union leaders plan to use the setback to fire up their members nationwide and mount a counter-attack against Republicans at the ballot box in 2012. The bill passed the state’s assembly after more than three weeks of protests that drew tens of thousands of opponents. Union supporters planned a mass rally at the Capitol on Saturday and continued to circulate petitions to recall from office eight of the Republican state senators who supported the bill. The Senate cleared the way for the bill with a surprise move that allowed them to move the measure forward by an 18-1 vote without 14 Democratic senators present. The proposal has touched off a national debate over labour rights for public employees, and its implementation is a key victory for Republicans who have targeted unions amid an effort to slash government spending. Republicans, newly empowered after seizing control of the House of Representatives and many state governments in November, had promised deep spending cuts, to hold or cut taxes and to shrink the size of government. Walker is part of the new, highly conservative wave of Republicans who have moved to cut taxes for businesses in their states. Similar restrictions on union bargaining rights are making their way through Ohio’s legislature. Several other states are debating lesser measures to curb union rights. US unions Wisconsin Republicans US politics United States guardian.co.uk
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Heavy police presence and official warnings deter protests in Riyadh and result in small demonstrations in eastern provinces Saudi security forces came out in strength in Riyadh on a “day of rage” organised by pro-democracy campaigners who managed only small demonstrations in the eastern provinces. Expectations that the unrest sweeping the Arab world in the last few weeks would spread to its most conservative kingdom appeared to have been dashed by pre-emptive security measures and stern official warnings against any protests. Far larger demonstrations rocked Yemen, where tens of thousands of pro and anti-government protesters took to the streets as President Ali Abdullah Saleh struggled to maintain his grip. Clashes broke out in the nearby island state of Bahrain, where Shia protesters were confronted by riot police guarding the royal court in Manama. Demonstrations were also held in Kuwait by stateless people demanding their rights. The calm in the Saudi capital may have been achieved partly by an incident on Thursday in the eastern city of al-Qatif, where police shot and wounded at least two protesters. Unconfirmed reports described trouble there again. Protesters rallied in Hofuf, close to the eastern Ghawar oil field and major refinery installations. The city has seen scattered protests by Shias who complain of discrimination by the Sunni majority. Saudi sources also reported marches involving hundreds of people in al-Ahsa and Awwamiya near al-Qatif. Security in Riyadh was high-profile and intense, with helicopters hovering overhead and police checks on cars and individuals heading for mosques, where protests were expected after prayers. “Police cruisers were given orders to pull over any car,” tweeted Mohammed al-Qahtani, president of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association. “I saw several cars being searched by officers, and they checked IDs.” Disappointed activists counted more policemen and journalists than demonstrators. “Where were all these policemen and helicopters when Jeddah was drowning?” asked one Saudi — a sardonic reference to the floods that devastated the Red Sea coastal city twice in the last two years and fuelled anger and resentment at government incompetence. Last week Saudi Arabia banned public protests following demonstrations by Shia groups in the eastern areas during which 22 people were arrested and later freed. Activists had used a Facebook page to call for protests but many reformist Saudis said they did not know who the organisers were and raised concerns of a possible provocation by the secret police in a country where demonstrations are rare. Characteristically, the government mobilised religious leaders to speak out. “Islam strictly prohibits protests in the kingdom because the ruler here rules by God’s will,” Sheikh Abdel Aziz Alasheikh told worshippers in Riyadh’s central mosque. Leading scholars had earlier issued a fatwa banning protests. Rumours were rife in Riyadh, with anonymous text messages carrying dire warnings of huge fines, loss of nationality and expulsion from the country. “The messages are not coming from official channels, and are obviously scare tactics employed to discourage large numbers from showing up and adding to the tensions,” one resident told the Guardian. Last month King Abdullah, who is 87, sought to defuse opposition demands for change by unveiling an unprecedented package worth about $37bn (£23bn) to pay for unemployment benefits, education and housing subsidies the day after he returned from three months of medical treatment in the US and Morocco. But critics said he was resorting to a familiar tactic of throwing money at a problem and not addressing its root causes — a lack of significant political reform. Since then the streets of Riyadh have been festooned with flags and large green posters of a smiling King Abdullah welcoming him home. “If you are well, we are all well,” one read. “Welcome king of humanity,” said another. Before a soccer match on Thursday, a message was circulated among fans urging them not to wear their team’s colours but the green of the Saudi national flag. For some Middle East analysts the extent of unrest in Saudi Arabia has been seen as a possible indicator of whether the popular unrest across the region will begin to ebb or continue to intensify. But a low turnout in protests may lead the king and his advisers to conclude that internal pressure for reform can be ignored. A special correspondent in Riyadh contributed to this report Saudi Arabia Middle East Bahrain Yemen Kuwait Arab and Middle East protests Ian Black guardian.co.uk
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NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith told reporters Friday that significant differences remain between the two sides in their negotiations for a new labor agreement and requested 10 years of audited financial records from the league. (March 11)
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To get good control of your chronic pain, it’s not enough to tell your doctor it hurts. You need to learn how to talk about pain: how it feels, how it rates on a pain scale, and how it affects you.
Continue reading …Chronic pain can be caused by many conditions, but sometimes it begins mysteriously. Learn about the causes of chronic pain and treatments.
Continue reading …Massive Earthquake Strikes Japan, At Least 44 Dead As 10 Meter Tsunami Hits Pacific Coast, Kan Mobilizes Forces, Declares Nuclear Emergency
March 11, 2011 No Comment
A massive magnitude 8.9 earthquake, the 5th strongest since 1900 and 7th largest in history, struck Japan last night off the coast of Sendai, launching a 10 meter Tsunami across the entire Pacific ocean, killing numerous people and sending Japan into a tailspin. Bloomberg reports : “Prime Minister Naoto Kan mobilized Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and the central bank pledged to ensure financial stability… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : zero hedge Discovery Date : 11/03/2011 12:55 Number of articles : 4
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Qhuram Awan and Karl Ness face life sentences after being convicted of aiding Raoul Moat’s gun rampage last summer Two accomplices who helped the fugitive killer gunman Raoul Moat stay on the run for almost a week are facing life sentences after being convicted of a number of serious offences, including conspiracy to murder, by a jury. Qhuram Awan, 23, and Karl Ness, 26, claimed they had been held hostage by Moat during his rampage through Northumberland last summer. But the jury at Newcastle crown court rejected their version of events and found they conspired with their friend before, during and after Moat shot three people, killing one and seriously injuring the others. They were convicted of a series of charges and can expect life sentences. Ness was convicted of murder and both were found guilty of conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and robbery of a chip shop. Ness was convicted of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life but Awan was cleared of the same charge. The first victim was Chris Brown, 29, a karate expert who was shot dead. He was dating Moat’s former partner Samantha Stobbart, 22, whom Moat shot and seriously injured at a house in Birtley, Gateshead. Brown’s mother, Sally, wept as the verdicts were delivered. Moat then declared war on Northumberland police and shot and blinded unarmed traffic officer Pc David Rathband. Relatives of victims cried “Yes” when the unanimous verdicts were read out. One male jury member appeared overcome by the emotion in the courtroom and had his head in his hands. Pc Rathband hugged his wife, Kath, and sobbed in the public gallery as the verdicts were announced. Mr Justice McCombe said: “A lot of people have been seriously affected by this case.” Moat had a grudge against police after he wrongly believed that Stobbart was dating a police officer. Moat died in July after a six-hour standoff with police in Rothbury, Northumberland, when he shot himself, despite hostage negotiators trying to persuade him to put the gun down. He was also shot by a police Taser that had not undergone proper testing. The hunt for Moat led to a Tornado fighter jet, normally used on covert missions in Afghanistan, being brought in to scour the countryside at dusk as hundreds of officers searched the countryside and woodland in Rothbury. Survival expert Ray Mears was brought in to advise officers after an abandoned campsite was discovered on the edge of the village. The search, costing £1.4m, was one of the biggest ever police operations in the UK. The fugitive’s ability to keep one step ahead of the police for a week fuelled further interest in the investigation, putting pressure on detectives who knew just how dangerous Moat could be. Moat, a former bouncer, had a history of violence and was involved in at least two road rage incidents. He regularly beat his girlfriend and was jailed for assaulting a child. From prison, he ordered Ness to spy on Stobbart, asking him to go through her bins, check her Facebook account and sit outside her house to catch her with another man. During the trial, Awan said he felt he was trapped in a cross between a Bourne Identity film and the Grand Theft Auto game. In notes he made entitled “Diary of a hostage” he wrote: “I know it sounds horrible but it is a game about a man on a mission. You’re going round shooting people and stealing cars.” For a time, the police ordered a news blackout as they thought they were dealing with a hostage situation while Moat was on the run. However, Ness and Awan were willing participants. Awan admitted driving Moat and Ness in his black Lexus from the roundabout where the gunman shot and blinded unarmed officer Rathband. The trial heard that Moat had laughed in the moments after he seriously injured Rathband. Awan claimed he had played along with Moat because he was too afraid to turn him over to the police and said he thought he was only going to “scare” Rathband, not shoot him. Awan said he feared for his life after Moat made threats against his family, and told him: “You’re with me now.” The part-time mechanic, of Blyth, Northumberland, waved to a police helicopter moments before he and Ness were caught by armed officers. He told the court of his relief upon being arrested, and his belief that he would be released to see his family immediately after being interviewed. Detective superintendent Jim Napier said: “Ness was a very close associate of Moat’s – you could probably refer to him as Moat’s right-hand man. He did a lot of running about for Moat, a lot of his dirty work. “Ness was a long-term friend of Moat’s. Moat was the dominant, bullying, assertive, bodybuilding individual. Ness would look after his house, his dogs, his car, run errands for him. “He was under the influence of Raoul Moat and would do whatever Moat demanded, willingly, and always.” Ness’s mother, Maureen, said her son was scared of Moat, his only friend. She said: “I felt on the one hand Karl admired Raoul, but on the other hand he also feared him. If Karl mentioned Raoul I would say, ‘Don’t go, you don’t have anything to do with him’, because I didn’t think he was any good. “Karl took no notice, he just said, ‘It’s OK, mam’.” Much of the evidence used against Awan and Ness came from CCTV cameras that “paranoid” Moat had installed outside his home in Fenham, Newcastle. Napier said the three men were in cahoots and he said “neither has taken responsibility for his actions or shown any remorse. For me, that sums up their cowardliness. They are beneath contempt.” Sentencing was adjourned by the judge until Tuesday. Raoul Moat Gun crime Crime Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
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PJ Crowley says Pentagon is being ‘ridiculous and stupid’ by subjecting WikiLeaks suspect to punitive conditions in jail Hillary Clinton’s spokesman has launched a public attack on the Pentagon for the way it is treating military prisoner Bradley Manning, the US soldier suspected of handing the US embassy cables to WikiLeaks. PJ Crowley, the assistant secretary of state for public affairs at the US state department, said Manning was being “mistreated” in the military brig at Quantico, Virginia. “What is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the department of defence,” he said. Crowley’s comments signal a crack within the Obama administration over the handling of the WikiLeaks saga in which hundreds of thousands of confidential documents were handed to the website. As news of the remarks rippled through Washington, President Obama was forced to address the subject of Manning’s treatment for the first time. Asked about the controversy at a White House press conference, Obama revealed he had asked the Pentagon “whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards. They assure me that they are.” Obama would not respond specifically to Crowley’s comments, which are the first critical remarks from within the administration about the handling of Manning. The prisoner is being held for 23 hours in solitary confinement in his cell and stripped naked every night. Until now the US government had presented a united front, promising to aggressively pursue anyone involved in leaking state secrets. Clinton herself described the WikiLeaks material as “an attack on America” and said “we are taking aggressive steps” to hold those who leaked it to account. Manning has been charged with handing state secrets to an unauthorised party. The charges include aiding the enemy, which can carry the death penalty. Crowley, speaking at an MIT seminar in Boston, did say he believed Manning was “in the right place”. He was presumably referring to Quantico, where the intelligence specialist has been held pending a court martial since July last year. Crowley said: “There is sometimes a need for secrets for diplomatic progress to be made.” But when asked by one of the audience what he thought about the “elephant in the room” – the US “torturing a prisoner in a military brig” – he replied without pausing that he thought the Pentagon’s actions were “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid”. Details of Crowley’s comments, which he said were on the record, were posted on the personal blog of Philippa Thomas, a BBC news correspondent on sabbatical doing a Nieman journalism fellowship at Harvard. The remarks were corroborated by another blogger at the seminar. The comments are likely to encourage protesters who have maintained steady pressure on the Pentagon. The UN is investigating whether the treatment amounts to torture. This week, in a legal letter, Manning gave his own description of conditions in the brig. “The determination to strip me of all my clothing every night since 2 March 2011 is without justification and therefore constitutes unlawful pretrial punishment,” he wrote. The 11-page legal letter provided a rare insight into the state of mind of the prisoner, who has been held in solitary confinement for 10 months. After he was arrested in Iraq in May, he was initially held in Kuwait before being transferred to Quantico in July. Manning says in the letter that he is being “left to languish under the unduly harsh conditions of max [security] custody”. He describes being stripped and made to stand naked for inspection. “The guard told me to stand at parade rest, with my hands behind my back and my legs spaced shoulder-width apart. I stood at parade rest for about three minutes. The [brig supervisor] and the other guards walked past my cell. He looked at me, paused for a moment, then continued to the next cell. I was incredibly embarrassed at having all these people stare at me naked.” Manning and his lawyer David Coombs have been trying to convince the military authorities that he is psychologically healthy and does not need such a harsh regime. His supporters argue the treatment is punitive and designed to force him into a coerced confession. Bradley Manning WikiLeaks The US embassy cables United States Hillary Clinton US politics US foreign policy Human rights Ed Pilkington guardian.co.uk
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