Anti-corruption campaigner says he will continue to ‘fast until death’ as campaign inspires millions to stage their own protests A 73-year-old Indian anti-corruption campaigner has refused to end his “fast until death” despite government concessions on his demands for a powerful new body to stamp out graft in the country. Anna Hazare ended his third day of hunger strike on Thursday saying he had lost weight and “felt a little weak” but could continue without food for at least another week. Hunger strikes – which invoke the memory of those undertaken by Mahatma Gandhi – are popular political tactics in India and are frequent features of public life. However, this most recent campaign against corruption has mobilised millions of Indians. Hazare’s Facebook page has more than 80,000 friends and supporters mobbed the Jantar Mantar observatory, the site of his hunger strike, in central Delhi on Thursday. Tens of thousands also joined the protests, ranging from hunger strikes to candlelit vigils in cities around the country including Mumbai, Lucknow and Jaipur. A number of Bollywood stars have also come out in support of Hazare, a former soldier and veteran social activist. Corruption in India is endemic and ranges from the small fees that need to be paid to avoid fines for trumped up traffic offences to an alleged £24bn fraud in the telecoms sector, which saw a former government minister jailed last month. “This is a corrupt government, full of corrupt ministers in a corrupt country. We have had enough,” said Peta Singh, an 18-year-old student from Noida, a satellite town of Delhi, who had travelled to the centre of the capital with friends to demonstrate. The telecoms scandal was just one of a series to hit the Congress-led coalition in the last year. Others included alleged kickbacks connected with the hugely expensive 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. The protesters want speedy adoption of a law to create a powerful anti-corruption ombudsman which would be able to ensure rapid investigation and prosecution of offenders. Current authorities – described as either politicised or toothless by protesters – would be placed under the ombudsman’s control. The activists reject the current draft of the law as too weak. It suggests the ombudsman, known as the Lokpal, be a recommending authority without prosecuting powers. The wealthy and powerful in India usually escape any charges against them or succeed in drawing out the legal process for many years, sometimes decades. A bill to set up a powerful anti-graft mechanism has been repeatedly introduced into parliament but has never passed. Many lawmakers make huge fortunes illegally. Keshal Gunjal, 28, had come to Delhi from the southern city of Pune to support Hazare. A science graduate who had given up his government post in protest against “the system”, he said Hazare and his followers would achieve their aims. “We will definitely reach our objectives. All of India is united against corruption – except the corrupt people of course,” he said. Another demonstrator, PN Jha, said he had personal experience of “scams” while working in the oil and gas sector. “No one believes the politicians any more,” he said. In the global list of perceptions of corruption compiled by Transparency International, India is ranked the 87th least corrupt along with Albania, Jamaica and Liberia. China ranks 78th and Pakistan 143rd, local commentators have noted. Brahma Chellaney, a respected Indian international affairs analyst and author, has called corruption an “existential threat” to India. Negotiations between the campaigners and the government are set to continue on Friday. India Jason Burke guardian.co.uk
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One in six secondary schools now an academy, figures show The number of academy schools in England has trebled over the last year to one in six secondary schools, government figures show. Statistics from the Department for Education reveal that the majority of secondary schools are academies in six local authorities. These include Southwark and Bromley, in south London, and Plymouth and Reading. Academies are schools that have opted out of the control of their local authority and may receive funds from charities or corporate sponsors. Under Labour, the academies programme focused on turning weak or underperforming schools into academies. Michael Gove, the education secretary, envisages that the majority of schools are expected to turn into academies in the near future. He has used emergency anti-terrorism legislation to change the law to allow all schools to acquire academy status. Academies can set their own pay and conditions for staff, set aside parts of the curriculum and change the length of the school day. The statistics show that the academy model is far more popular in secondary schools than primaries. Some 547 secondary schools are now academies – 16.5% of the total. But just 82 primary schools are academies – 0.5% of the total. There are now 629 Academies open, compared to 203 in May last year. In London, the south-west and the east of England, schools are particularly likely to become academies. They are least likely to convert to become academies in the north-east of the country. The government said it would now consider applications from schools for children with special needs that wanted to become academies. Lord Hill, minister for schools, said that “by setting good schools free and improving performance in weak schools, we will raise standards for all children no matter what their background”. Academies Schools Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …One in six secondary schools now an academy, figures show The number of academy schools in England has trebled over the last year to one in six secondary schools, government figures show. Statistics from the Department for Education reveal that the majority of secondary schools are academies in six local authorities. These include Southwark and Bromley, in south London, and Plymouth and Reading. Academies are schools that have opted out of the control of their local authority and may receive funds from charities or corporate sponsors. Under Labour, the academies programme focused on turning weak or underperforming schools into academies. Michael Gove, the education secretary, envisages that the majority of schools are expected to turn into academies in the near future. He has used emergency anti-terrorism legislation to change the law to allow all schools to acquire academy status. Academies can set their own pay and conditions for staff, set aside parts of the curriculum and change the length of the school day. The statistics show that the academy model is far more popular in secondary schools than primaries. Some 547 secondary schools are now academies – 16.5% of the total. But just 82 primary schools are academies – 0.5% of the total. There are now 629 Academies open, compared to 203 in May last year. In London, the south-west and the east of England, schools are particularly likely to become academies. They are least likely to convert to become academies in the north-east of the country. The government said it would now consider applications from schools for children with special needs that wanted to become academies. Lord Hill, minister for schools, said that “by setting good schools free and improving performance in weak schools, we will raise standards for all children no matter what their background”. Academies Schools Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …One in six secondary schools now an academy, figures show The number of academy schools in England has trebled over the last year to one in six secondary schools, government figures show. Statistics from the Department for Education reveal that the majority of secondary schools are academies in six local authorities. These include Southwark and Bromley, in south London, and Plymouth and Reading. Academies are schools that have opted out of the control of their local authority and may receive funds from charities or corporate sponsors. Under Labour, the academies programme focused on turning weak or underperforming schools into academies. Michael Gove, the education secretary, envisages that the majority of schools are expected to turn into academies in the near future. He has used emergency anti-terrorism legislation to change the law to allow all schools to acquire academy status. Academies can set their own pay and conditions for staff, set aside parts of the curriculum and change the length of the school day. The statistics show that the academy model is far more popular in secondary schools than primaries. Some 547 secondary schools are now academies – 16.5% of the total. But just 82 primary schools are academies – 0.5% of the total. There are now 629 Academies open, compared to 203 in May last year. In London, the south-west and the east of England, schools are particularly likely to become academies. They are least likely to convert to become academies in the north-east of the country. The government said it would now consider applications from schools for children with special needs that wanted to become academies. Lord Hill, minister for schools, said that “by setting good schools free and improving performance in weak schools, we will raise standards for all children no matter what their background”. Academies Schools Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk
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Omar Fathi bin Shatwan says members of Libyan leader’s inner circle also want to defect but fear for their lives Libya’s former energy minister has fled to Europe, and says that several other key political figures also want to defect. Omar Fathi bin Shatwan, who was energy minister from 2004 to 2006, said members of Muammar Gaddafi’s inner circle also wanted to leave Libya, but feared for their lives. Shatwan, who also served as industry minister, fled to Malta on Friday from the besieged city of Misrata, the Maltese foreign ministry said. He arrived in the country but his presence had been kept a secret, it said. He said he remained in contact with members of Gaddafi’s government, who found themselves and their families under siege. “Those whose families are outside Libya will flee if they get a chance,” Shatwan said. “But many can’t leave, and all the families of ministers are under siege.” The former minister described how he had witnessed the widespread destruction of Misrata and had seen government forces fire on civilians indiscriminately , during a 40-day period in which he could not leave his home. He finally managed to escape Libya’s third city on a small fishing vessel. “There has been a big bombardment and there is total destruction. After this, they occupied some streets with tanks, and put snipers in the buildings,” he said. He added that government forces were mainly foreign mercenaries, led by a small number of Libyans loyal to Gaddafi. Shatwan is a long-standing figure in Libyan politics, and held various government posts between 1987 and 2006. He returned to his academic career after leaving government in 2007. “At the beginning Gaddafi’s regime was good. The first 10 years saw vast improvements, the middle 20 years less so, and the last 10 years have seen terrible decline,” he said. Shatwan is the most recent political figure to flee Libya. The country’s foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, defected to the UK last week. Muammar Gaddafi Libya Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Alexandra Topping guardian.co.uk
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Treasury confirms potential UK contribution to rescue package for Portugal as George Osborne seizes on debt crisis as vindication of his deficit reduction policies Britain could be required to find more than £4bn to help a European bailout of the stricken Portuguese economy, the Treasury has confirmed. The chancellor, George Osborne, seized on Lisbon’s debt crisis to warn that those opposed to the British government’s deficit reduction plans were playing “Russian roulette” with UK sovereignty. The “difficult decisions” taken had brought “credibility and stability” to Britain’s finances, Osborne said. But the prospect of Britain helping to rescue another member of the eurozone on the back of the emergency funding provided to Ireland provoked anger in Conservative ranks. The Portuguese prime minister, José Sócrates, announced on Wednesday that he was following Ireland and Greece in seeking an EU bailout – which analysts say could be up to €80bn (£70bn) – as “the last resort”. The British government argues that it is bound to help under an agreement signed by the former chancellor Alistair Darling in the last days of the Labour government, committing all EU member states to act as guarantors of any emergency funding. However, the leader of the Conservative MEPs in Brussels, Martin Callanan, said the legality of the bailout under the terms of the agreement was “highly dubious”. “Europe is sinking fast under the weight of its own uncompetitiveness and debt,” Callanan said. “It must not be allowed to take the UK with it.” The Eurosceptic Tory backbencher Douglas Carswell questioned claims by current ministers that they had opposed the deal, pointing to a Treasury memorandum suggesting there had been cross-party agreement. The Treasury said the UK was not planning to offer bilateral assistance to Portugal in the way that it did to Ireland. But it confirmed that Britain could be required to provide a loan of up to about £4.4bn – 13.6% of the €37.5bn remaining in the EU “disasters fund” after it was drawn upon by Ireland – as well as 4.5% of any IMF loan. The exact sums will depend on what application is made by Lisbon and how much of the bailout can be absorbed within the eurozone-only fund. In a speech to the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) conference in London, Osborne contrasted events in Greece, Ireland and Portugal with the UK government’s decision to put in place “a credible deficit reduction plan” which had provided a “crucial bedrock of stability”. “If you hear the stories about the cuts and still wonder why our country needs to take these difficult decisions, then look at what is happening around us,” he said. “Today, of all days, we can see the risks that would face Britain if we were not dealing with our debts and paying off our national credit card. “These risks are not imaginary – they are very, very real. Those in our country who deny the urgent need to deal with our deficit are playing Russian roulette with Britain’s national sovereignty. I will not do that.” The shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, accused Osborne of a “desperate piece of scaremongering” and called him a “desperate chancellor who looks out of his depth”. Balls told Sky News: “If anybody is playing Russian roulette with the British economy, it’s George Osborne, taking a huge gamble now without any idea how it’s going to turn out. “That may be good political lines. But it’s very bad economics, and it’s taking huge risks with jobs and businesses and family finances up and down the country. I think he’s got this very, very badly wrong. And he will rue this day, with this blatant politicking.” Osborne told the BCC that while the UK recovery was “choppy”, Britain was “putting its house in order”. “We now have almost the same market interest rates as Germany, despite having a bigger budget deficit than Portugal, Greece and Spain,” he said. He added that the government was “unashamedly pro-enterprise, pro-business and pro-aspiration”, with a central objective of restoring UK competitiveness “after years of decline”. “We need to step up a gear,” he said. “Britain needs to out-compete, outsmart and outpace the rest of the world.” But he warned that “enterprising Britain” could not be build by government alone, urging businesses to help ministers combat the “forces of stagnation who will try to stop the forces of enterprise”. He said these included unions opposed to reforms of the industrial tribunal system, which they claim will weaken workers’ rights to fair treatment. Osborne said the workplace rights of an employee had to be balanced with the rights “not be priced out of the market” in the first place because of the cost burden on business. His speech comes as the government invites businesses and community groups to help “rip up” some of the UK’s 21,000 rules and regulations in a drive to tackle red tape and remove “ridiculous” burdens. T Portugal Europe European Union Economic policy Economics Global economy Tax and spending George Osborne Ed Balls Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Teen catches drunken Pawlenty campaign worker banging on her back door at 3 a.m.
April 7, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Chloe Steward, a 15-year-old girl in Ankeny, Iowa, woke at 3 a.m. to find Benjamin Foster, a consultant for Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), banging on her back door. Foster was arrested and charged with public intoxication and trespassing, according to KCCI . “The Steward family said Foster was drunk and was trying to get home to a friend’s house in Johnston,” the station reported. “They said he vomited in their backyard and scared their daughter.”
Continue reading …‘Shut It Down!’ Mike Pence and AFP Tea Partiers leave little doubt who’s pushing for a shutdown
April 7, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Republicans have been playing the innocent the past couple of weeks as the now-imminent government shutdown began looming closer, even though it was obvious they were taking their cues from Fox pundits and Rush Limbaugh, who were urging them to embrace the concept. Who, us, push for a shutdown? they’ve been saying. Why, it’s the Democrats who’ve been pushing for it, they claim. Well, Mike Pence cleared that up for us yesterday — first in an interview with MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer, then more loudly at a Tea Party gathering organized at the Capitol by those noted astroturfers ‘entrepreneurial advocates’ at Americans for Prosperity: PENCE: It’s time to take a stand. We need to say to liberals, ‘This far and no further.’ To borrow a line from another Harry, we’ve got to say, ‘The debt stops here.’ And if liberals in the Senate would rather play political games and force a government shutdown instead of accepting a modest down payment on fiscal discipline and reform, I say, ‘Shut it down.’ After which, of course, the crowd chanted: “Shut It Down! Shut It Down!” You get the idea of their idea of a workable compromise: Utter defeat for Democrats: The crowd of bussed-in people from Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and other states, repeatedly cheered for a shutdown and for deeper cuts. “A quarter of a trillion [in cuts] won’t be enough,” Rick Mishoe from South Carolina, told TheDC. Yet Pence did not threaten to campaign against any deal cut by Boehner. He didn’t lay down any markers, nor demand any particular level of cuts. Asked afterward if the GOP caucus would gain from a shutdown, he punted, and said that “the politics will take care of themselves.” “It’s not 1995, the American people are more informed and more engaged… The taxpayer will win in any confrontation with big spenders in Washington,” Pence said. Well, as Scott Keyes at ThinkProgress observes : The reason for Boehner’s intransigence is increasingly clear: as Republicans and Democratic lawmakers negotiate, Boehner is giving the Tea Party veto-power. Sen. Chuck Schumer detailed this point while discussing the ongoing negotiations on Good Morning America this week, noting that “The tea party just continues to pull Speaker Boehner further back and back and back. They’re the people who say they don’t want compromise. They’re the people who say they relish a shutdown.” I can’t believe anyone who’s watched Fox or listened to Limbaugh for the past couple of weeks would have any doubt about Republican thinking on the issue. Because that’s obviously what’s being executed here.
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With its violent beatings, twisted family dynamics and bent coppers, Martina Cole’s The Runaway has all the hallmarks we’ve come to expect of the gangster genre Most of the indispensable cliches of gangster drama exist for a reason – shows that ignore them do so at their peril. The Runaway, Sky’s gritty new show certainly embraces every diamond-geezer gangster trope imaginable – it’s a one-stop shopping centre. But would you want it any other way? There are certain things we have come to expect of our TV gangsters. Family, obviously, is very, very important, but we want our mob relations to be screwed up – although even The Take ‘s family dynamics aren’t as twisted as those of The Runaway. So what else do we demand of our TV gangsters? To start with they’ve got to have a look. The Wire’s gangbangers embraced street fashion, based on prison clothes: anti-fit raw denim, white trainers (Nike or Adidas) and white vests which Bubs sold from his shopping trolley. Other characters such as Brother Mouzone wore a suit and bow tie so the cops would leave him alone, prompting Cheese to enquire “You with the Nation, homey? ‘Cause either you a Muslim, or your mama need to stop laying your clothes out in the morning.” The plastic gangsters of EastEnders also wear suits to their offices – which isn’t strictly necessary as they tend to be rooms behind the club (Jack Dalton) or the bookies (Andy Hunter). The Sopranos favour Fila tracksuits – as Uncle Junior noted, “I swear these bums would get buried in sweat-suits if they could.” Boardwalk Empire’s Arnold Rothstein and Nucky Thompson make excellent wardrobe choices and Al Capone has just bought the wide brimmed hat that would become his trademark. If a gangster wears a wig, it must be a bad one. Christopher is more scared of Ralph Cifaretto’s wig in The Sopranos than he is of cutting his head off. Then there’s Freeman’s Colonel Sanders hairpiece in Underbelly and Keith Allen’s spectacularly awful syrup in The Runaway. If a gangster goes for a gentleman look and carries a suitcase, it must contain either bank notes or weapons. Any self-respecting firm needs to have bent coppers on the payroll. In fact the police are routinely almost as bad as the villains. Our Friends In the North is partially set in the same era as The Runaway and features similarly crooked cops while in The Sopranos a smitten Tony paid a corrupt detective to follow Doctor Melfi and beat up her boyfriend after pulling him over for a breathalyser test. “You got prime rib at home, and you’re going out for hamburger?” he asks a mystified Melfi. It goes without saying that all mobsters all love their mums. Or more accurately, they have an uncomfortably close relationship with an overbearing parent, most often the mother. Tony Soprano actually hated his mother – to be fair she did put a hit on him – and even in death she cast a shadow over his life. Similarly in The Wire, mothers are tyrannical and overbearing. Avon’s sister Brianna Barksdale is the matriarch of the family, and sacrifices her son D’Angelo for the good of the family, while Namond’s mother, De’londa Brice is unlikely to win mother of the year any time soon . The rules are the rules, until they aren’t. As Bunk noted in The Wire, “a man must have a code”, and the code, although nebulous, must not be violated. Unless the boss is really, really cross. Tony Soprano is well-known for enforcing strict discipline among his crew, until his rules inconvenience him. At which point he will casually off a made man and stuff his head in a bowling bag. Viewers were also shocked when Tony Soprano suffocated his nephew, Christopher Moltisanti, and ordered the murders of his nephew Jackie Aprile and Christopher’s fiancee Adriana. In fact fratricidal killings are an occupational hazard for our TV gangsters, in honour of Michael Corleone taking out Fredo in Godfather 2. Jimmy and Freddie had a homicidally inclined relationship in The Take (their kids, “little Jimmy” did in fact murder “little Freddie”), while Stringer Bell and Avon Barksdale, who grew up together, race to have each other removed from the picture, before Avon gives him up to Omar and Brother Mouzone. It’s fair to say that gangs don’t always take care of their own. The violence, when it comes is operatic and rarely telegraphed. In The Take, one minute Tom Hardy would be smiling benignly, and the next, someone would be coughing up blood. “Fucking shut it! This muppet’s had his day, right? So let him bleed.” Usually, brutal beatings are accompanied by incongruously jaunty music over the blood-spattered mayhem, a device we’ve seen countless times in films and now a staple of TV gangster drama. This bloodshed is often shot in slow motion, a favourite of Australian crime drama Underbelly. Shows such as EastEnders however, are somewhat hamstrung by being broadcast early evening – there was little Jack Dalton could do to when he wanted to menace someone except sneer and make not especially scary threats. So, are there any I’ve missed? We’re talking TV gangsters here, but obviously there’s a debt to the many beloved gangster movies. Which gun-fixated gangster dramas are awash with cliches? Drama Television US television Kathy Sweeney guardian.co.uk
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Four Kenyans say they suffered abuse under British colonial rule during the 1950s Mau Mau rebellion Four elderly Kenyans who claim they were variously whipped, beaten, sexually abused and castrated while detained under British colonial rule in the 1950s have brought their claims for compensation to the high court. The survivors of the emergency regime imposed during the Mau Mau rebellion were tortured, forced to confess and, in once case, witnessed the clubbing to death of 11 prison inmates, the court was told. The landmark hearing, expected to last several weeks, will highlight a catalogue of atrocities that will rewrite the history of British colonial rule in Africa. Boxes of documents, stored by the Foreign Office, have been unearthed during research into the claims. They will shed fresh light on the repressive means employed by the authorities to defeat the fight for independence. While not denying that abuses took place, the Foreign Office insists that the UK government retains no residual liability for the claims, deploying a range of constitutional precedents – including reference to the declaration of martial law in Jamaica in 1860 – to block the survivors’ quest for compensation. Robert Jay QC, for the Foreign Office, opened the case with an application that the claims should formally be struck out by the court. Jay told a packed courtroom in London that it did not seek to diminish the appalling acts committed in detention camps between 1952 and 1961 but said the case was “built on inference” and ended in a “cul-de-sac”. The test case claimants, Ndiku Mutua, Paulo Nzili, Wambugu Wa Nyingi and Jane Muthoni Mara, who are in their 70s and 80s, have flown 4,000 miles from their rural homes for the trial, which will also consider whether the claim was brought outside the legal time limit. The judge heard Mutua and Nzili had been castrated, Nyingi was beaten unconscious in an incident in which 11 men were clubbed to death and Mara had been subjected to appalling sexual abuse. Acknowledging their attendance, the judge asked counsel to convey the court’s appreciation of their presence “whatever the results of this case”. The FCO argues that legal responsibility was transferred to the Kenyan republic upon independence in 1963 or else simply ceased to exist. Earlier, the claimants’ solicitor Martyn Day said the case was “not about reopening old wounds”. “It is about individuals who are alive and who have endured terrible suffering because of the policies of a previous British government. “They are now seeking recognition and redress in the form of a carefully conceived welfare fund. It is incumbent on the government to treat such people with the respect and dignity they deserve.” A witness statement by Professor David Anderson, of the African Studies Centre at Oxford University, who has examined some of the withheld documents, refers to forced labour used in many of the camps. It notes a comment by the then attorney general in 1956 that “if we are going to sin, we must sin quietly”. The hearing continues. Kenya Human rights Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk
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